Class 

Book i 
Copyright N° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE MESSIAH'S MESSAGE 



BY 

JOHN JOSEPH ROBINSON 



ST. LOUIS, MO., 1912 
Published by B. Herder 
17 South Broadway 
freiburg (baden) i london, w. c. 

Germany 68, Great Russell Street 




NIHIL OBSTAT. 
Sti. Ludovici, die 27. Oct., 191 1 
F. G. HOLWECK. 

Censor Librorum. 

IMPRIMATUR. 
Sti. Ludovici, die 28. Oct., 191 1 

f Joannes J. Glennon, 

Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici. 



Copyright, 1912, 



by 

JOSEPH GUMMERSBACH. 



-BECKTOLD — 

PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO. 
ST. LOUIS, MO. 




©CLA3051517 



PREFACE 

Every word that fell so sweetly from the lips of 
Jesus Christ was a marvelous revelation to a bewil- 
dered world, every revelation contained a sublime 
truth, and every truth was full of a hope or solace. 
Our Lord must have been the center of all eyes 
wherever he went, and His words must have diffused 
all around a soft and genial atmosphere of holiness. 
His conversation fell like a gentle and heavenly dew 
upon his hearers' hearts, rousing up in them what- 
ever was fruitful. " The art of Apostolical conversa- 
tion/' says Father Coleridge, " is one of the most deli- 
cate and beautiful of the instruments which God uses 
for the benefit of souls, and it must have been pos- 
sessed in fullness by our Lord, Who clothed all His ac- 
tions, demeanor, and words with the most lovely and 
gracious affability. And, therefore, any attempt on 
the part of human language and human imagery must 
necessarily have been an inadequate vehicle to faith- 
fully portray Him." Christ Himself knew what dif- 
ficulties would confront us in this matter, and out of 
consideration for us He generally had recourse to par- 
ables to explain His divine message. These para- 
bles preached by His ministers throughout the world 
go straight to the hearts of men and rouse up the 
sleeping echoes in those who hear them willingly and 

iii 



iv 



Preface 



profit by them. Yes, this beautiful character, Christ, 
brought a message to the world as His guest, it was 
a message of love and leniency. He clothed it with 
unparalleled beauty and graciousness, but the world 
was not attracted by its beauty, nay, the world, to a 
great extent, rejected that message, which He clearly 
explains in the parable of the wedding feast of the 
king s son. That message contained in His Gospel, 
is the message of truth, and, therefore, is hated by the 
world because the world does not wish to hear the 
truth. That message is abhorred by the world be- 
cause it calls the world an impostor. The world wars 
against this message because it commands us to prac- 
tice self-denial and not allow the three concupiscences 
to drag us into the slough of the world. Notwith- 
standing this hatred and bitterness against it, from 
the day that the divine Messenger Himself suffered 
death on its behalf on Calvary, from that sad after- 
noon when the crimson fountain first burst forth on 
Golgotha, the same purple stream will continue its 
course to the end of time, for the heroic messengers 
of that message will continue to bear it to a sinful and 
warring world laying down their lives in its defense. 

We often hear it said that there is nothing original. 
I may say that this applies to the present work, " The 
Messiah's Message." However, sometimes a face 
looks different, apparently so, according to the hat that 
one may wear; in other words, the same ideas can be 
expressed in different language, and their expression 
looks the more pleasing according to the language in 
which they are expressed. A bad fitting coat make9 



Preface 



v 



a man look slovenly, while a suitable fitting one makes 
him look smarter and more attractive. I hope that I 
don't arrogate too much to myself, when I claim to 
have placed part of the MESSIAH'S MESSAGE in 
a mold that brings out more clearly some of the 
beauties of Christian teaching. 

In the compilation of this book I owe much to many 
authors whose words I could not improve on, and 
hence I quoted them without alteration. Some pas- 
sages I transposed in order to render the doctrine more 
easily understood. This has been done by many writ- 
ers. St. Augustine extracted from Plato some of his 
loftiest ideas, and the writers of the Middle Ages in- 
terlaced some of their beautiful conceptions with those 
of Aristotle. With such examples before me I claim 
your indulgence. 

The Author, 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

" Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam " i 

"Let not the shoemaker go beyond his last." 

Man 24 

Man's Object 41 

Shall Our Bodies Rise After Death 54 

Religious Sentiment. Part I 65 

Religious Sentiment. Part II 79 

Religious Sentiment. Part III 94 

Christ and His Church 105 

Sin and Redemption 137 

Sin 1 S3 

Sin and its First Punishment 165 

Punishment of Sin Continued 173 

Eternal Punishment 184 

Faith 197 

Infidelity 212 

The Unbelief of the World 221 

Purgatory 231 

" Peace be to You " 248 

The Resurrection of the Sinner. Part I 267 

The Resurrection of the Sinner. Part II 280 

"I will arise and go to my father, and say to him: 

Father! I have sinned against heaven, and before 

Thee." 

The Resurrection of the Sinner. Part III .... 291 

" Pray that your flight may not be in winter." 
Let Us Pray 298 



Contents 



PAGE 

Blessed Eucharist. Part I 307 

Blessed Eucharist. Part II ... e ...... 319 

Blessed Eucharist. Part III .......... 326 

"Hail Mary" . . 336 

The Rich and the Poor 348 



2>e&tcation 



My Dear Mr. Hayden. 

Permit me to have the honor of dedicating 
to you this work, titled " The Messiah's Mes- 
sage." I hope you will find explained in it, 
to your satisfaction, some of those truths of 
Christ's Church which are severely and un- 
justly criticised. 

I am 

Yours faithfully. 

J. J. ROBINSON. 



THE MESSIAH'S MESSAGE 



"NE SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM " 

"Let not the shoemaker go beyond his last." 

There are many who tell us to-day that science 
holds the key which opens the door of the treasury of 
all truth, that it is the source of light and truth of all 
questions of any importance, that it can explain all 
phenomena. These are wild words, they are seductive 
promises. Every attempt to advance our knowledge 
of the unknown, to solve problems connected with, 
humanity, to enrich the stores of truth, is a most com- 
mendable employment, and in keeping with the dignity 
and destiny of the human race. It is wise to encour- 
age the pursuit of science, and to expect from it pro- 
gressive discovery and enlightenment. The prodigi- 
ous success of our scientific acquirements during the 
past few years, almost forces us on our knees to wor- 
ship her as a fair goddess. The Augustan era of old 
appears to be resuscitated in the twentieth century. 
The living forces of nature set to work by human 
genius have altered the face of the earth. By means 
of the compass, the telescope, and other inventions of 
men, the ethereal distances have been extended ex- 
tensively, and peopled by vast worlds, the weight, the 

i 



2 



The Messiah's Message 



number, the volume of which are laid down with 
marvelous accuracy in scientific records. Science 
pierces the crust of the earth and discovers for us the 
dreadful upheavals that have taken place in ages gone 
by, it brings to view the fossils of extinct species from 
a mysterious unrecorded history which has been ac- 
cumulating through millions of years. Through the 
impressions of the silurian rocks we are introduced to 
the inhabitants of the primitive world. Science har- 
nesses that most dangerous element, electricity, to suit 
human needs. By its application space is almost an- 
nihilated, and her wingless voice through wireless 
telegraphy reaches the sinking mariner crying to the 
shore for help. By her meteorology she forecasts 
storms and forewarns us of their approach. I may 
say every law discovered in the order of nature is ap- 
plied as an invention in the industrial system to 
ameliorate the condition of human life. We must 
gratefully acknowledge this progress since its object 
is to confer the greatest possible benefits on humanity. 
And we may never dread that the revelations of nat- 
ural science will ever contradict the revelations of 
Eternal Truth, but on the contrary they will assist in 
a great measure in persuading vacillating minds that 
both proceed from the same divine origin. So long as 
man's mind does not become the dupe of the senses 
scientific inquiiy cannot proceed too far. " Science," 
says Dr. M'Cosh, "has a foundation, and so has re- 
ligion. Let them unite their foundations, and the 
basis will be broader and they will be two compart- 
ments of one great fabric reared to the glory of God. 



Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam" 3 



Let one be the outer and the other the inner court. 
In the one let all look, and admire, and adore; and in 
the other let those who have faith kneel, and pray, 
and praise. Let the one be the sanctuary where hu- 
man learning may present its richest incense as an 
offering to God, and the other, the holiest of all, sep- 
arated from it by a veil now rent in twain, and in 
which, on a blood-sprinkled mercy-seat, we pour out 
the love of a reconciled heart, and hear the offerings 
of the living God." 

Filled with justifiable pride in her discoveries sci- 
ence aspired to higher flights, it hoped to unlock the 
door of the spiritual and moral world with the key 
of the material world and introduce us to all within its 
walls. This is her fundamental mistake, because sci- 
ence derives its knowledge from inference, from ex- 
periment; now experiment cannot show, for example, 
the difference between the soul and body, for this 
knowledge is arrived at from the observance of their 
phenomena which is the duty of philosophy; it draws 
conclusions from the elements supplied by science. 
From the science of chemistry we learn that man is 
made up of a certain amount of carbon, nitrogen, 
chalk, and hydrogen. From the science of biology we 
learn that man is made up of a number of cells. 
From the science of zoology we trace man's genealogi- 
cal descent. These studies are within the province of 
science, but it must halt here. When science steps 
outside this boundary she becomes a wanderer with- 
out a light, she commences to grope, she ceases to 
walk upright, she is in the land of a stranger, she is 



4 



The Messiah's Message 



trespassing. Hence when scientists talk about the 
soul they apply the results of their observations from 
the sensible world. They are like rude carpenters 
who use a trowel where they should use an ax, they 
work with the wrong tools. For example, they ex- 
periment on the brain with instruments and then de- 
termine the nature of the faculties of the soul. Here 
lies the blunder ; a miscroscope or scalpel is a poor in- 
strument to build up for us the knowledge of the soul; 
this knowledge is acquired by the soul reacting upon 
itself. Don't ask science what is the soul, or anything 
about the soul, because it can't answer you truthfully, 
no doubt it will essay a reply, for we know pride will 
always give some answer through fear of being con- 
victed of ignorance. Let science keep within the do- 
main of matter which it dissects and analyzes; when, 
therefore, it trumpets that thought, sentiment, intel- 
lectual ideas are nothing more than the movements or 
vibrations of molecules; it is proclaiming things com- 
pletely outside its radius. When it bawls aloud that 
we must not admit anything except what comes under 
the observance of the senses, it is a deceiver. When it 
can't give us a prescription from its laboratory to heal 
the wounds of our infirmities, to save us from our 
fellow-man's selfishness, to calm our fears of death, 
but robs us of a God who can do so, it is a persecutor. 
Therefore when science has no imprimatur that au- 
thorizes it to speak of the soul we must conclude that 
what it proposes about the soul's faculties is so much 
rambling rot; as the soul is invisible, science cannot 



" Ne Sut or Ultra Crepidarn" 



5 



demonstrate anything about it, and it must always re- 
main for it an insoluble problem. 

We must not, therefore, be surprised to hear science 
say through Renan, " that God is a pious old word, a 
little misty, which means a very subtle interpreta- 
tion," and " that a man must descend very low in the 
scale of intelligence in order to discover that the world 
has any other cause than itself." We must not, there- 
fore, be surprised to hear the atheistic philosophers 
say, " the universe accounts for its own existence by 
primordial matter, necessary and eternal, the evolu- 
tions of which have produced the world." It is no 
wonder that men who, relying for science to teach us 
everything, say " that beyond the realm of chemical 
elements and their combinations absolutely nothing ex- 
ists." With regard to God science supplies some of 
the elements of philosophical demonstration, but God 
being a pure spirit is beyond the reach of experiment. 
The existence of God, therefore, cannot be proved by 
scientific demonstration. From a metaphysical point 
of view creation is very difficult to prove, human rea- 
son unassisted has no conception of it. Epicurus and 
the Stoics professed the eternity of matter, and the 
order of the world they attributed to blind chance. 
The Eleates taught that the world was a part of God. 
This wrangle about creation proves that great diffi- 
culties arose which prevented the mind from grasping 
the idea of a creator. This was the perturbed state 
of the minds of the philosophers of old, and this 
strange perturbation torments society to-day, and ends 



6 



The Messiah's Message 



by generating chaos in our ideas, manners, and cus- 
toms, for the greatest part of the history of the world, 
of its revolutions, of its errors and conquests is noth- 
ing but a war against religion. Unroll the chronicles 
of the world and you will hear a voice denying, at 
every page, this great truth — the existence of God. 
Science no longer wishes to recognize the existence of 
a Deity, nay more, with a brazen front it dares to say 
that the belief in a God acts like a brake on the 
chariot of enlightenment. Literature does not permit 
it to encroach on its precincts. Poesy insults it. His- 
tory labors to efface the name of God from its pages. 
From the schoolroom, from the hospital, from the 
domestic hearth the cross is removed that memory 
might suffer the symbol of the Crucified to become a 
thing of the past and forgotten. Thus does atheism 
without shame stand forth in the light of noonday- 
splendor denuded of all argument, not even a shred, 
and with wanton effrontery endeavors to corrupt and 
rob humanity of its inherent purity of belief in God. 
It is this false teaching that is crushing and desolating 
the heart of man. " There is no such thing as God," 
this is the cry we hear to-day wafted on the wings 
of so-called science and echoed back by the world. 
" There is no such thing as God," shriek the licentious, 
" who was ever known to have returned from the 
grave. Like the track of a cloud our lives vanish, 
they shall be dispersed like a mist driven away before 
the beams of the sun. Come, therefore, let us enjoy 
the good things that are present. Let us hasten to 
enjoy them lest the flower of the time escape us. 



Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam 



7 



Crown us with roses ere they be withered. Let no 
meadow escape our riot, let us eat and drink for to- 
morrow we die. Free the rein to desire, let every 
passion have its fill, everywhere leave we tokens of 
how we have enjoyed our fleeting hour. Let the 
sounds of mirth and revelry never be silent within our 
halls. The only elysium is the sty of our passions/' 
These are the outpourings of a delirium in humanity 
contracted by the intemperate and diseased teachings 
of men, more suited to the ravings of a maniac than 
any other. 

Every nation under the sun adored some kind of 
a deity. Whether it was Unity in India, Dualism in 
Persia, Variety in Greece, or Plurality in Rome, still a 
god was worshiped whether he thundered in Jupiter 
or lay besotted in Bacchus. Man believes in God in- 
stinctively. The whole human race adored a God. 
Herodotus treating of nations points out their re- 
ligions. Plato proves the existence of God by the 
unanimous consent of the Greeks and barbarians. 
Aristotle affirms "that all men have an idea of God, 
and this notion has existed among them from the re- 
motest antiquity." " What nation/' says Cicero, " or 
what race of men has not (even without any previous 
teaching) a certain anticipated knowledge of the 
gods? " Seneca says, " There is no nation so 'rude as 
not to believe in the gods." The belief in God may 
have been eclipsed among certain nations, but it al- 
ways rises again from- its ashes. Tribes there might 
have been discovered destitute not only of the ele- 
gancies but of the most necessary arts of humanized 



8 



The Messiah's Message 



existence, ignorant of letters and laws, without ideas 
of property or of fixed habitations, but no tribe or 
people, however barbarous, has ever been discovered 
without a belief in God. From the Scythian hunter 
wrapped in ermine and roaming in the icy north to the 
vulgarized Australian aboriginal there is a universal 
belief in a deity. We find it with the Indian in his 
wattled wigwam, with the Zulu in his kraal, with the 
Chinaman in his pagoda. This universal belief is an 
undeniable fact, and to explain this fact a propor- 
tioned cause accompanies it. It can't be explained 
away as an effect of prejudices or passion, for they 
are diversified and vary; nor of ignorance because 
such belief imports knowledge of a first cause ; nor of 
fear because it would die out by the experience of its 
emptiness; nor of superstition because superstition 
would confirm our thesis. This constant fact, there- 
fore, of belief in God cannot be explained except by 
it being inherent in our human nature; it comes from 
our intelligent soul. 

The wise philosophers of old give us also their own 
personal expressions of their belief in an all-ruling 
power. Aristotle says, " When a man came to ex- 
plain the existence of an Intelligence which, in na- 
ture, as well as in animated beings, is the cause of the 
order and regularity that appear throughout the whole 
world he left the impression of being the only one 
possessed of his senses, and having remained sober, 
so to speak, after the extraordinary follies of his 
predecessors." Plato writes in his Republic, " Man 
ought to rise from the view of contingent objects and 



Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam " 



9 



elevate his whole soul to the luminous contemplation 
of the Being who is." Cicero never doubted final 
causes. " When we consider," he says, " the con- 
tinuous and fixed movements, the causes, together with 
the revolutions of the heavenly spheres which are so 
numerous and gigantic we must acknowledge that all 
these bodies are guided by a superior intellect. Since, 
therefore, neither the mind nor the power of man can 
produce results, God alone must be the Architect of 
all these worlds, and the Director of their movements. 
The beauty of the world, the harmony of the spheres, 
show at first sight that this is not the work of chance, 
and force us to acknowledge that there exists above 
us a nature superior, eternal, and worthy of the ad- 
miration of the human race." Horace, a great genius, 
writes, " It is God, who, through the order of the 
seasons, makes harmony to reign over the sea, the 
land, and the whole universe. It is from Him that all 
things have sprung, and not one can be compared to 
Him." The expression of these great philosophers of 
old have great force when we come to consider that 
they were surrounded by a pagan world of pagan 
thought, and their loftiness of mind had to soar to a 
high altitude so as not to be clogged by the influence 
of pagan creeds. From this standpoint their sayings 
are a proof that their conclusions of the existence of a 
God were the result of vigorous reasoning. 

Among modern philosophers we have very strong 
revelations in their writings of their belief in God. 
Voltaire, condemning Lucretius, who denied final 

causes, said, " In matters of philosophy Lucretius 
2 



IO 



The Messiah's Message 



knows a little less than a church beadle.'' " I feel 
within myself," said La Bruyere, " that there is a 
God, and I do not feel his non-existence." Napoleon I 
used to say, " It is not everyone who wants that can 
make himself an atheist." M. Taine explains every- 
thing by declaring that " at the summit of all things 
there is an Eternal axiom, of which the prolonged 
reverberations compose, by their inexhaustible undula- 
tions, the immensity of the universe — an immortal 
and creative formula, omnipotent and eternal, which 
nothing can exhaust" Nations like the United States 
of America when proclaiming their new government 
make worship of God the foundation stone of the con- 
stitution. Now a religious fact that is continually 
reproducing itself in the history of the human race 
must be part of human nature and be, and is, en- 
grafted in it by the great Creator of the human soul. 
Fenelon in his treatise on the existence of God sup- 
poses himself to have been taken to a desert island, 
where he discovers a statue, and exclaims, " There 
must have been men here before. I recognize here the 
hand of a talented sculptor. I admire the nicety with 
which he has proportioned all the parts of this body, 
so as to give it so much beauty, grace, majesty, and 
life." This kind of reasoning ran in the mind of 
Voltaire when he wrote these words: "If a clock 
proves the existence of a clockmaker, and the world 
does not prove the existence of a Supreme Architect, 
I consent to be called Cause finalier, that is to say a 
fool." Newton, after having explained the laws of 
light, asked himself the question, whether . the eye 



Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam" 



1 1 



could have been made by one who was without any 
knowledge of optics, and the ear by one without knowl- 
edge of the laws of sound. " You conclude," said he, 
" that I possess an intelligent soul, because you per- 
ceive a certain order in my words and thoughts. 
Judge, then, when you set the order and regularity 
existing in the world, that a being sovereignly intelli- 
gent must exist." 

The proof of finality of the existence of God is un- 
answerable. The general organization of the matter 
which composes the world demonstrates the existence 
of a first cause. Look at the pageantry of the 
sidereal world. How can .this work be explained 
without the intervention of a Superior Intelligence. 
Without a directing mind, it would be impossible to 
account for those gigantic and impassable worlds. 
World after world follow and encircle each other in 
a regular network of orbits and movements, and these 
movements are so accurately regulated upon that im- 
mense spindle in the midst of space that we are forced 
to pause and commune with Him Who fixed their 
laws. " The force is so gentle that guides them that 
they seem to us like lamps balanced in the sky." The 
distances between them are immeasurable. When we 
think of them we shrink back appalled. We stare 
hopelessly out at stars so remote that the light which 
can travel ninety-six millions of miles to the sun in 
eight minutes, takes hours, days, years to arrive to 
them. And far beyond these stars again a million 
others spread away in swarms of tangled haze. What 
a contemplation for us to see these myriads of worlds 



12 



The Messiah's Message 



sailing noiselessly with such precision, with such meas- 
ured music in their beautiful orbits. Planet balances 
planet and on goes the endless song. Two forces reg- 
ulate these bodies, attraction is neutralized by an op- 
posing force, and on goes the heavenly symphony. 
Who then could have generated these forces? Who 
gave these worlds their first impulse, and who keeps 
them still moving? In vain do we look for an ex- 
planation from insentient nature, from that uncon- 
scious germ developing and perfecting itself in the 
course of ages by virtue of a force latent within it. 
The Creator alone is the cause. Yes, this huge solar 
system swings and rotates in loose space by His com- 
mand. The eye wanders over the starry firmament, 
over this many creatured world, the hands of the soul 
stretch out in the dark groping to feel something that 
will satisfy its grasp, they seize a thousand things, 
but they let go their hold in disappointment, and so 
goes on the search until they light on God, then and 
only then have they found their peace and the vision 
of their joy. 

Every variety of creation tingles with God, breathes 
God, is pregnant with God, shines with God, is fra- 
grant with God. From the ripple of streams and the 
loud resounding ocean, from the sweet-scented flowers 
of the meadow and the rustling leaves of the trees, 
from the confused hum of myriads of insects and the 
roar of the lion in the forest comes a solemn melody, 
and the musicians who contribute towards it so har- 
monize one with another that the concert is never 
jarred by a single discordant note, all with an attentive 



Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam 



13 



ear and fixed eye obey their Omnipotent Director, and 
by their obedience disclose to us the existence of some 
Great Ruling Power. And this disclosure is not con- 
tradicted by science, there is no antithesis between 
science and revelation. When men say that science 
and revelation clash, the clash is only apparent, the 
fault is not with this or that particular branch of sci- 
ence, but with the mind which becomes distorted and 
thus puts the blame on science instead of taking it 
on itself. Geology, for example ; no matter how deep 
we dig and burrow into the earth and examine those 
archives of nature of both organic and inorganic mat- 
ter, they will not reveal anything contrary to the 
Mosaic narrative of creation. This is also the case 
with the science of astronomy. Let us soar from the 
earth to the moon, stars, and planets until we get lost 
in nebulous matter, everywhere we have God. This 
is the case with the laws of energy, force, motion, or 
rest, of sound, light and heat, they are only revela- 
tions of a Master Mind. The crystals of the min- 
eralogical kingdom, the beautiful colors of flowers 
and rich foliage of trees speak of His beauty; music, 
like a strophe or hymn to God, sounds His harmonies. 
All these are disclosures of God, but He hides Himself 
to a certain extent behind them. He draws a thick and 
heavy veil around Himself, yet we see Him through 
the veil. There is not a tree or flower, not a gentle 
and timid singing bird, not a painted butterfly that 
does not reveal some one or other of His divine at- 
tributes. It is well to observe that every beauty of 
creation is a reflex of some of the divine perfections, 



14 



The Messiah's Message 



so that all together are a faithful translation of God's 
sovereign beauty; for this reason all creatures each in 
its own way, from the brilliant globe that illumines 
space to the humble lily which is forgotten in the val- 
ley, bear witness to His ineffable perfections, and 
sing with an endless song His excellence and His 
glory; " the heavens sing of His omnipotence, the seas 
of His greatness, the earth of His fecundity, the clouds 
with their lofty promontories represent the footstool 
upon which His feet rest; the lightning is His will; 
the thunder, His voice ; He is in the abysses with His 
silence, and in the loud hurricanes and tempestuous 
whirlwinds with His sublime wrath. He painted us, 
say the flowers. He gave me my splendid arches, say 
the heavens. We are sparks that drop from His 
splendid robe, say the stars, and passing before us 
His beautiful, glorious and perfect figure was stamped 
upon us, say the angel and man. In this way some 
things represent His grandeur, others His majesty, 
others His omnipotence, but the angel and man es- 
pecially represent the treasures of His goodness, the 
marvels of His grace, and the splendor of His beauty." 

" Look at the movement of the world and ask your- 
selves what has given to it motion. In nature inert 
matter does not exist. From the stars that whirl 
around in the immensity of space to the crystal that is 
formed in the bowels of the earth; from the butterfly 
flitting from flower to flower to the eagle hovering in 
the ambient air; from the worm to the soul of man 
all are moving. And who can suggest a single im- 
provement in this great fabric of creation, no mortal 



Ne Sut or Ultra Crepidam 



15 



shall ever be able to suggest a single one, and should 
any one madly make the attempt he shall not mend, 
but make things worse. Now if all parts of the uni- 
verse be so constituted and governed as that it would 
not be possible to conceive how they could be better 
adapted both for utility and effect, how can the con- 
clusion be resisted that there exists a supremely wise 
and all provident Intelligence? Art effects nothing 
without the direction of mind, how then shall nature 
do without it? Bring a machine so constructed as 
to represent the heavenly bodies with all their various 
and complicated notions; do as Posidonius did when 
Caesar invaded Great Britain, exhibit an orrery to a 
savage people, and will they be of opinion that the 
wondrous art which has mimicked the revolutions of 
the celestial spheres was constructed without the aid 
of reason? And shall ingenuity be attributed to an 
ordinary mechanic on account of a puerile attempt at 
imitation while it is denied that a Deity was required 
to form the vast original ?" 

What but the continuance of God's creative will up- 
holds the world in existence. What but His regulat- 
ing providence makes the elements of the world keep 
their place, their proportions and their equable balance 
so admirably tempered to human needs. What makes 
the earth and the orbs of heaven to move in their ap- 
pointed courses ? " What makes the sun to glow with 
a splendor softened to the requirements of human 
eyes and human life? What causes the winds to 
breathe in gentle gales, or to blow with purging vehe- 
mence? What makes the ever-changing clouds to 



i6 



The Messiah's Message 



muster in their squadrons and career before the winds, 
acting as revivers of the earth and as curtains from 
the solar heat? What causes the showers to fall, the 
streams to flow, the seas to agitate their purifying 
waves; the earth to germinate in flowers and fruits; 
the air to feed the flame of life, the waters to fertilize, 
all nature to bring forth? Some hidden cause, it is 
God. Science may trace the dependencies of things 
upon each other on the visible side, and may follow 
the links of the lower end of the chain of causation, 
but what and where is the primal force from which all 
causation springs ? What primal force moves all ma- 
terial things that are in their nature passive? What 
keeps them orderly, temperate, and measured in their 
movements, whether worlds, elements, or things that 
vegetate, or that move with the force and the har- 
mony of animal life; we may ask in vain so long as 
we search for their causes in material nature. The 
divine Author of all is the first Mover of all, whilst 
He Himself is immovable. The world is a book, it 
is an admirable work, an exhaustless source of in- 
struction, pleasure and amusement. Unlike some 
books it bears reperusal, unlike others it never re- 
quires a second edition. It has a way of reproducing 
its leaves, as Time's skeleton finger stains and mars 
them and presents fresh pages to its readers as they 
hurry past from the cradle to the grave. Humanity 
as it rises and sinks in wave after wave, gazes on 
them in admiration as it passes along. But the book 
remains ever ancient and ever new while intelligences 
flit past it and are gone, and like the footprints on the 



" Ne Sut or Ultra Crepidam" 17 

sand of the seashore we know that someone has 
passed. So is it with the world, creation reveals the 
hand of the Great Creator, God." The leading 
French atheists of the last century were assembled in 
society on one occasion and when indulging in their 
atheistic views Diderot exclaimed, " Let us appoint 
the Abbe Galiani a defender of God." And the Abbe 
said, " One day at Naples there was a man in our 
company who took up six dice, and bet he would 
throw the number six. He did so. But six times 
running he threw the number six. Then everyone 
cried out, The dice have been dealt with; on exam- 
ination this was found out to have been the case. 
Now, gentlemen philosophers, when I consider the 
order of nature perpetually returns, and how constant 
its movements are amidst such infinite diversities; 
when I also consider how this one chance preserves 
such a world as this which we see, notwithstanding a 
hundred million chances that might derange the order, 
or destroy it altogether, I am led to exclaim that the 
world has been dealt with." This unexpected sally 
reduced the adversaries of the existence of God to si- 
lence. 

The materialist professes that matter and motion 
are eternal. Specific gravity, attraction, repulsion 
hold the heavenly bodies and spin them from eternity. 
These professors of science look as far as a given 
point and stop there; they err by not going still further 
and inquiring what is the primary power that created 
all these forces. True science answers back and 
points out clearly the fallacies of these men, thus are 



1 8 The Messiah's Message 

the very weapons wrenched from their hands and 
turned to club them. Science cannot give us an an- 
swer with regard to the world's creation. It ven- 
tures to reply, but it is merely hypothetical. The 
laws of nature can give no account of their own origin. 
Laws do not explain everything, their own origin 
has to be explained, as also their adaptation to cer- 
tain ends, and to a plan visible in all phenomena. The 
fact of these laws not being able to account for them- 
selves, and the very order they reveal supposes the 
existence of a Supreme Legislator. " Laws govern, 
and yet they are themselves slaves." The position of 
laws with regard to the universe is also happily ex- 
pressed in that quotation from Proudhon, " It is just 
as absurd to refer the system of the universe to phys- 
ical laws, without any regard to the commanding Ego, 
as to attribute the victory of Marengo to strategical 
combinations without taking the first Consul into ac- 
count." "If the universe had a beginning, this be- 
ginning by the very nature of the case, was super- 
natural," says Mill. Nature can account for that which 
exists, but not for that which by hypothesis preceded 
what exists. " After all," says Virchow, " no one 
knows what existed before that which exists. Sci- 
ence has only the data which the existing world af- 
fords. Naturalism goes beyond experience, it estab- 
lishes itself as a system. But systems are much more 
the result of speculation than the result of experi- 
ence." 

Again what is the origin of life? I will tell you, 
says science; it is matter under the influence of mois- 



Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam" 



19 



ture, heat, and light generating beings spontaneously. 
Light, heat, and moisture act upon inert matter, and 
flowers, fruit, and man blossom into life. The ad- 
versaries of religion armed themselves with the doc- 
trine of heterogeneity to maintain that life springs 
from matter without the intervention of the super- 
natural. But we never have seen life come forth from 
the mineral kingdom, it has never been produced in 
the retorts of men of science, nor has it ever issued 
from the immense alembic of nature. Men who 
maintain such doctrine have never passed the stage of 
hypothesis. Whence, therefore, comes life? The 
physical and natural sciences can give no answer. 
Revelation replies and tells us that all things come 
into existence by divine creation. The whole of cre- 
ation, wherein everything is coordinated and linked to- 
gether through all space, is the work of the divine Arch- 
itect. It has been proved beyond all doubt that spon- 
taneous generation is impossible, and therefore life 
must have been created. From theory to theory these 
men fly, like hunted foxes they run from cover to 
cover until they are unearthed for the last time and 
scotched. The latest expedient is that all living things 
came from a small number of types, and probably 
from one unique species primitively created. Among 
the representatives of this primordial kind were pro- 
duced accidental varieties which, in perpetuating and 
accentuating themselves more and more, formed dis- 
tinct varieties. Among these kinds further accidental 
variations produce genera. In like manner these de- 
veloped into orders, classes, and kingdoms. In the 



20 



The Messiah's Message 



course of these successive transformations, accumu- 
lated during millions of centuries before we arrive at 
existing conditions of things, a primitive rudimentary 
being, an earthworm, or perhaps a single organic 
cell came to be transformed, in the first place into 
vegetables and animals of very simple organization, 
and these, by degrees formed the plants and animals 
of all the existing orders. The followers of this 
theory explain how these transformations were 
wrought. They say there is a perpetual struggle for 
existence among living beings, and in this struggle 
little by little the strongest and the best suited for 
survival conquered and destroyed the weakest and the 
least suited. As soon as an alteration was wrought 
in the organization of one of these beings, if it were 
of a sort likely to be of service to it, it transmitted 
it to its progeny, rendering them, in turn, more and 
more perfect. If on the other hand, a hurtful change 
arose, it tended to their extinction, and disappeared 
with them. Darwin calls this the Law of Natural 
Selection, which preserves the useful and roots out the 
hurtful modifications of species. Thus the struggle 
for life and natural selection, to which must be added 
the correlation of increase, the influence of environ- 
ment, temperature, heat, and other local surroundings 
are the causes by which Darwin explains the succes- 
sion of beings which proceed from a primitive organ- 
ism, including all existing species, besides those that 
are extinct, the fossil remains of which are found in 
the bosom of the earth. These fossils appearing suc- 
cessively through the geological periods of types more 



" Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam" 21 

and more perfect, from mollusks to fishes, then rep- 
tiles, then birds, then marsupials, then hoofed mam- 
mi fers, then apes, then man, appeal to the theorists 
of evolution, and furnish for them certain data for 
their theory. 

How futile the attempt to bolster up this theory 
is shown from the life of the great mammifers such 
as the dinoceras, which perished when the delicate 
creatures of that period lived. Strength, therefore, 
does not prevent the destruction of a being. The 
smallest and weakest animals lived and propagated 
while the most gigantic and strongest disappeared. 
Therefore, the survival of the fittest cannot explain the 
formation of the species. The upholders of this theory 
appeared to buttress their argument of the survival 
of the fittest by the influence of natural selection, 
which, profiting by the smallest favorable variations, 
preserves them by the law of heredity, and accumu- 
lates them during thousands of years. Recent ex- 
periments overthrow the trans formist hypothesis, for 
natural selection brings back to the primitive type 
varieties that have branched off from it, and this has 
been proved not alone in the animal but also in the 
vegetable kingdom. Again the sterility of hybrids 
shows that the law of propagation in nature has a 
limit. To a certain point propagation can go, then 
there is a stop, and no further will this law allow 
propagation. If such a law did not exist to prevent 
the intermixture of species, life would cease. Time, 
climate, and many other external circumstances may, 
and do change organisms, but they don't beget new 



22 



The Messiah's Message 



species. A retrograde movement is more likely than 
an improved one. This we see verified in the degrada- 
tion of races, this we see in an unpruned gooseberry- 
bush where the intervention of man is necessary to 
preserve the horticultural kingdom from growing into 
a wilderness of stunted shrubs. It must be observed 
that the Creator observed a great unity of design in 
the construction of certain beings. This unity of 
design the Creator expanded into variety, modifying 
the general plan to suit the particular plan, and this 
particular plan in no way disturbs the general plan. 
In some animals we see certain similar parts of their 
bodies retrenched or multiplied, but this is no argu- 
ment to prove that we all descend from a common 
ancestor by a gradual transformation, but points out 
the handiwork of an intelligent power. Take, for 
example, any animal that is with us to-day, and com- 
pare it with the fossils of that animal sculptured in 
the dawn of its existence upon the primitive rocks 
and we find no change in them, they show no differ- 
ence after so long an interval from the similar species 
of to-day. How can a scientist say that vertebrates 
originated from simpler forms, such as worms or mol- 
lusks? One of our greatest students of natural phi- 
losophy, Vogt, says, that he could not conjecture 
even an hypothetical pedigree for them. Such a 
theory has not passed beyond the stage of hypothesis, 
and a conjectural foundation would be a very poor 
basis to build a science upon. The first germs of life 
must be dated, and if it can't be shown from whence 
they come we must be forced to conclude that they 



" Ne Slit or Ultra Crepidam " 23 

were created by God. The gradual transition from 
animals to man is not therefore a scientific fact, it is 
a pure and simple hypothesis. There exists, there- 
fore, an inscrutable Being everywhere manifest of 
whom we can conceive neither the beginning nor the 
end.- When, therefore, we contemplate the heavens 
with its whirling worlds, " like barks launched in the 
skies," when we gaze on the beauty of the flowers in 
Spring, on the golden sheaves in Summer, on the suc- 
culent fruits in Autumn, on the calm night's cold in 
Winter, and each never defaulting, we are coerced to 
believe in the existence of some great divine Work- 
man. Through the crystals of the rocks, in every 
molecule of matter, in the painted wings of birds and 
butterflies, in the colors and perfume of flowers and 
foliage we see the beauty and skill of a divine Artist. 
But when we ascend still higher on the grade of crea- 
tion and arrive at man, here we stand on the summit 
of earthly perfection which causes us to pause and 
wonder at this marvelous work of the Creator, a 
creature endowed with reason and destined for im- 
mortality, a creature whose reason leads to God, and 
whose conscience proclaims to us His moral law. " O 
Thou Almighty One, Magnificent, Eternal Being, 
Creator of all things, teach all to know and love Thee." 



MAN 



On the lips of every mother we can place the words 
of the mother of the Machabees, " I know not how 
you were formed in my mind for I never gave you 
breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the 
limbs of each of you." Let us, therefore, submit this 
creature man to our thoughtful consideration and see 
from whence has he come. 

In all things created there is matter and there is 
form, and matter cannot exist without form. Mat- 
ter is created from nothing, and the form determines 
the matter. When we say that God created the world 
out of nothing, when we say that God stood on the 
brink of chaos and by the music of His omnipotent 
word evoked beauty, splendor, and intelligence from 
nothing, we don't mean to say that He gave fecundity 
to nothing, we don't mean to say that from zero came 
reality, no, for nothing can be produced out of noth- 
ing, that is God could not give existence to nothing- 
ness, but we mean that He gave being to that which 
was not. In the forms of matter we see vestiges or 
shadows of the attributes of the Creator, just as the 
form of what an inventor is about to make is in his 
mind before he makes it, so are the forms of all things 
in the mind of the Creator before He created them. 
The first creation of this world was chaotic matter, 

24 



Man 



25 



and its form was just as much as its chaotic nature 
required. The Creator spoke the Hat and this rude 
elementary matter sprang into existence. The next 
move on the part of the Creator gave this rough mat- 
ter its distinctions, its several forms that determine 
its natures, kinds and species. 

Geological research shows us that prior to the crea- 
tion of man there was an upward progress in all 
created beings, starting from dead matter to the low- 
est forms of animal life, and from these to a class 
of a still higher nature. It was predestined in the 
scheme of the Creator for the dynasty of the fish to 
be succeeded by the still higher dynasty of the rep- 
tile, and that of the reptile by the still higher dynasty 
of the sagacious mammals; and no matter how search- 
ing the examination of the chain of created beings may 
be, no other conclusion can be arrived at, but that 
these separate links were separate creations. Another 
matter worthy of note in these separate creations is, 
while we pass up from the first layers of the earth's 
strata in the Lower Silurian age to the Quartenary, 
if we examine the fossils of animal life we can't 
escape observing a progress in the succession of beings, 
from the mollusk to man. Furthermore we see in 
this progress an increasing resemblance to man, we see 
a form of structure improving as we go along, com- 
mencing almost from zero to man, but this connection 
is not the consequence of a direct lineage between the 
fauna of different ages, their similarity is to be sought 
in the mind of the great Creator Himself, Who, by a 

kind of preparatory gradation in these successive 

3 



26 



The Messiah's Message 



types was about to produce a creature superior to all 
that preceded him. They were a kind of mute 
prophecy which was to be fulfilled in the advent of 
man. All the previous types pointed with a prophetic 
ringer to man. Fish and reptile, bird and beast, told 
of the coming of man. 

Scene succeeded scene, generation after generation 
passed away. After the creation of the elements in 
their chaotic state, the first epoch of formation is the 
creation of light. The second epoch is the dividing 
of the waters. The elements have now been so ar- 
ranged as to be prepared to receive organic forma- 
tions. Then came the third epoch which consisted in 
the creation of the vegetable kingdom with all its 
wonderful variety of form, beauty and fruitfulness. 
Let plants and the lower forms of animal life come 
forth, cried the Creator, and His voice was obeyed. 
Let fishes come forth and inhabit the waters of the 
deep, said the Creator, and the seas became teeming 
with life. But these creations were dull and dark, 
they knew not why they were created, there was a 
great deep to be filled up. The light of the sun was 
then called to appear from behind its dark shroud and 
to shine upon the earth with greater brilliancy, to 
garnish and cheer the earth, and to be the guardian 
of its times and seasons, and thus form the fourth 
epoch, and prepare the earth for the fifth epoch of the 
creation of God which filled the air and earth with 
animal life. Let birds come forth, cried the Creator, 
and the air became resplendent with the beautiful 
plumage of birds. Let the beasts of the earth come 



Man 



27 



forth, cried the Creator, and animals of various kinds 
filled the mountains and prairies, the forests and the 
glens, " ravenous creatures with trenchant teeth, 
barbed sting, and sharp spine enveloped in pelts like 
a glittering armor of steel and plate." Nevertheless 
those innumerable creatures of forms so various had 
no knowledge of their Creator. One more epoch is 
wanting for which all the preceding epochs were so 
many preparations. They provided for the creation 
of a creature who would know his Creator. The birth 
of this creature is fast approaching. One more link 
has to be forged to complete the mighty chain of crea- 
tion. The time has arrived, the home of this creature 
is furnished, the larder is filled with provisions for 
his use and nourishment, for his instruction and de- 
light. Yes, when the species and genera of other 
kingdoms filled to an unprecedented fullness the earth 
the Creative hand seemed to pause. The finished 
creation of all previous formations demanded its 
Lord, and the language of the Creator changes. 
There is some mysterious consultation with the other 
mysterious powers, and after these mysterious de- 
liberations the Creator again speaks, " Let us make 
man to our image and likeness." And at length 
creation receives its deputed monarch, molded by 
God's own finger and in God's own likeness man enters 
on the great stage of life a being that shall partake of 
earth and spirit, that part of him that is of the earth 
will be nourished from the elements of the world, and 
that part of him that is of the spirit shall be nourished 
with the light and life from the spiritual world. 



28 



The Messiah's Message 



" Yes, an exquisite creature has now appeared as the 
crowning work of the Creator, a creature rich in 
native faculty, pregnant with yet undeveloped seeds 
of all wisdom and knowledge, tender of heart and 
pure of spirit, formed to hold high communion with 
the Creator," and to breathe and live in loving grati- 
tude among all the other creatures subservient to him. 
What an impassable chasm lies between him and his 
predecessors, he can review all the past creations 
which sprung from the blank depths of bygone ages 
as well as peer into the mysterious future and await 
one succession more, not a new creation, but an eleva- 
tion. There is no repetition of the past. The 
Creator broke the mold of each creation as He 
created each creature; among the fossilized forms of 
both fauna and flora we have not yet found a record 
of a dynasty once passed away, ever to return again. 
" Man occupies the central point of the great circle 
of being; so that those lines which pass singly through 
it of the inferior animals stationed at its circum- 
ference meet in him; and thus as the focus in which 
the scattered rays unite, he imparts by his presence a 
unity and completeness to creation which it would 
not possess if he were absent." Notwithstanding this 
important place which man holds in creation each time 
that a babe is born we hear a cry denoting pain, 
we hear a groan denoting distress. Another crea- 
ture with the seal of its Creator comes to take its 
place as an actor on the great stage of life. Look 
at it, it has entered the world in a penitent posture 
with its arms crossed upon its breast, it bears a mark 



Man 



29 



of servitude. We see a tiny fragile body, quivering, 
trembling, helpless in its fragile frame, but what 
potentialities lie there, they are in a profound sleep 
and await until the dawn of life loses the freshness 
of the morn. Two great agencies are concealed in 
that casement of flesh, they are always busy building 
up, constructing their instruments of warfare to be 
used one day in a long and fierce battle against each 
other. Yes, in that fragile envelope wrapt in 
swaddling clothes lie seminal qualities of a diverse 
nature, sown in the moral field of man in the spring- 
time of his life. In it there is the fontal source of 
good and evil, and a congenial soil for both. How 
will they grow up? Will the tree of life be productive 
of good fruit, or will it be productive of bad fruit, 
will it produce the fruit of life or the fruit of death, 
will it grow heavenward and seek light, or will it 
grow earthward and seek gloom and darkness, will the 
virtues of one agency by the noxious weeds, the over- 
growth, the poisonous things of the other, will they 
become stunted in their growth and expansion ? What 
mother can hold this trembling mystery to her breast 
without many such questions as these arising in her 
mind? 

I said one more succession is awaited. What is it ? 
Within that fragile envelope of vegetable and animal 
life with its rosebud hues, lies the pulsating soul, and 
on account of it the Creator's work still goes on, mak- 
ing the high succeed the low, in elevating, raising, and 
beautifying this soul. Man's responsibility, man's 
immortality forbid that he should be like all those 



The Messiah's Message 



creations that preceded him, hence the Creator's work 
of elevation in fitting and preparing imperfect man for 
a perfect future state continues. How absurd then 
appears the teaching of those agnostics and philoso- 
phers who endeavor to explain this upper progress 
of being in the evolution of an incomprehensible law, 
through which in the course of unreckoned ages, 
the lower forms of animal life have risen into a higher, 
and the animal creation without thought or care on its 
part, and without intelligence on the part of the operat- 
ing law, have risen from irrational to rational beings, - 
from mere promptings of instinct, from worms, jelly- 
fishes, kangaroos, apes and baboons to Bacons, New- 
tons, and Galileos. 

Let us follow this great work of God. He grows 
into manhood through the inexhaustible source of 
God's providence. The sun shines to give him light 
and warmth, the clouds career before the winds some- 
times to act as curtains to protect him from the solar 
heat, and at other times to rain down their gentle dews. 
The atmosphere is tempered to suit human needs. 
The earth is busy in its various departments to feed 
the flame of life. The forests give him wood to build 
places of habitation, its sea supplies him with nutri- 
tious fish, its soil teems with living beings to minis- 
ter to his wants, its minerals and metals yield up their 
treasures for his use and ornamentation, its animals 
grow materials to supply him with garments to pro- 
tect him from frosts and chills, its fields produce for 
him rich bending harvests, and its gardens, golden 
fruits and fragrant flowers. What a combination of 



Man 



3i 



labor, of industry, has been brought together under 
the laws of an over- ruling providence to supply man 
with the necessaries of life. 

Man is no predial serf, his destiny is not to tear 
and scrape the clay of the earth solely, his destiny is 
of a much higher nature. We must not measure our 
being by the amount of strength we possess, for the 
lion of the forest out-distances us. There is no com- 
parison between us and the king of the wild woods. 
But there is a light within man, the light of an in- 
comparable mind which discriminates him from the 
rest of animal life. " Let there be light," said the 
Maker of the universe, and suddenly a dark and dreary 
chaos was molded into a star of beauty, capable of 
radiating brightness to other space-wandering worlds, 
and ever since these words fell from the lips of God, 
the undulations and pulsations of light formed a 
sphered music singing an endless song of the ex- 
cellence and glory of God. The greatest and humblest 
of the vegetable world proclaim their direct depend- 
ency upon the mysterious forces which are bound 
together in the silver thread of light. What this light 
is to the world, the light of reason is to man. His high 
order of intelligence has placed him immeasurably 
above the beast, there is an enormous abyss between 
them that cannot be bridged. He looks up into the 
shifting panorama of the heavens, into the amazing 
amplitude of cosmic space and can contemplate the 
supreme magnificence of the scale of the stellar uni- 
verse, the pageantry of the heavenly bodies with their 
complicity of movements. He counts the restless 



32 



. The Messiah's Message 



corpuscles of an atom, surveys the cells of a flower, 
he tunes nature's lyre and produces soul-stirring and 
ravishing emotions of harmony from magic music. 
Look at the marvelous results from his industry, he 
is changing the whole face of nature. No longer has 
the earth or the things of it been able to conceal from 
him their secrets. He plants the vine to produce his 
drink, he tills the soil to grow him grain for bread, 
cities spring up as trophies of his diligence and skill. 
It is no misnomer to call him the fellow-worker with 
the Creator. See him in the garden adding beauty 
to the flowers, more delicacy and fertility to the fruits, 
and richer succulency to vegetables. See him in the 
domain of the animal world, he teaches the dog vir- 
tues of fidelity and affection, the horse he trains to 
assist him in the field of his industry, or to join him 
as a companion in sport, the cow under his surveillance 
yields him more products for his dairy than nature 
asks, and within his pens and folds he cultivates the 
fleece of the sheep to make its texture and fiber 
longer and finer. He follows in the track of the 
Creator, and in those provinces where his Maker ex- 
patiated before him, the occult law inherent in these 
organisms meets in him a developing instinct, a per- 
severing ingenuity and skill, and thereby adds fertility, 
productiveness, and improvement to each of these de- 
partments. No one but a reflective intelligence could 
construct such high scaffoldings in nature. It is 
therefore no misnomer to call man the improver of 
creation. How absurd therefore is the teaching of 
those who associate man with the gorilla and chimpan- 



Man 



33 



zee. With this same intelligence he reckons the 
millions of cells formed by the active spores of a 
mushroom, the billions of animalcule in one pound 
of rotten stone, and the countless infusoria in one drop 
of water. He looks on the beauty of the flowers in 
springtime, the productive power of nature yielding 
golden sheaves of grain and mellow fruit in Autumn, 
and he pours forth unto the providence of God his 
prayers of thanksgiving. Man therefore believes in 
a Deity instinctively, as all these attest the universal 
presence of a sovereign Intelligence. 

When we look with admiration and contemplate any 
one part of the world-famed picture of our " Lord's 
Transfiguration " by Michael Angelo, or on the " De- 
scent from the Cross " by Rubens, each part of either 
of these wonderful pictures has reference to the whole 
picture, but if we take away the prominent part, viz., 
Christ Transfigured, or Christ on the Cross, we would 
render the picture meaningless, and both combined 
reflect the glory of the great artist who painted them. 
In like manner it may be said that the inferior parts 
of creation bear the same relation to man as the dif- 
ferent characters in each of these wonderful pictures 
bear to that part which the artist contemplated when 
placing on canvas his lofty ideas, viz., Christ Trans- 
figured or Christ being taken down from the cross. 
The principle feature, therefore, in either of these pic- 
tures exercises a certain dominion over the inferior 
characters or other parts, it gives to each of them 
a meaning which is depicted by the great artists. In 
like manner does man exercise a dominion over all 



34 



The Messiah's Message 



the inferior creatures of creation and gives to them a 
meaning for their existence, and both combined reflect 
the glory of God. The exercise of this dominion of 
man over the other creatures was a grant to man by 
the Creator when through a formal decree He said, 
" Let him," meaning man, " have dominion over the 
fishes of the sea, the birds of the air, and the beasts 
of the whole earth, and every creature that moveth on 
the earth." The diamond or ruby knows not its own 
wealth, the orchid or rose in the flower garden knows 
not its beauty, the lion or horse has not the light of 
reason to know its strength or usefulness. This 
knowledge is reserved for man, their viceroy. We 
cannot say of man that he is as ignorant as the 
precious stone, or metal, or flower, or beast. For we 
hear a voice coming from the depths of our soul in- 
quiring, for what object am I made? what will be 
my end ? 

To make anything, or to do anything without an 
object would be stupidity, would be unintelligible, and 
unless we know the ultimate end of anything, we do 
not know the reason why it exists. But when we 
know the ultimate end for which any one thing is 
made, then we know the principle of its constitution. 
How defective our knowledge of the horse or dog 
would be unless we knew its relation to man. How 
defective our knowledge of a musical instrument would 
be unless we knew it was invented to produce sweet 
melody. Now when we know the ultimate end of 
man, when we know the object for which he was cre- 
ated then we know the principle of his constitution. 



Man 



35 



When Michael Angelo painted the marvelous picture 
of the Transfiguration, he did not paint that picture 
for itself, he had in his mind the purpose of awaken- 
ing in the human mind sublimity of thought and de- 
votional feeling, the object was something more noble 
than a piece of dull canvas with various pigments and 
colors. Following this course of reasoning, when 
man was fashioned from the clay of the earth, and his 
soul from the living breath of the Creator, the object 
of his creation was not for man himself, nor for any- 
thing in his environment, he was made for something 
outside himself, and for something nobler than him- 
self. Can we discover anything on this earth nobler 
than man? No, therefore, we must listen to that voice 
that proclaims within us, and with no uncertain or 
equivocating accents, that the soul of man has a ca- 
pacity for infinite things. Man feels their magnetism, 
their attraction, and his impulse towards them. 

Could this world be the object of man's life? Can 
we find in it that which can satiate the desires of the 
soul? Are the concupiscence of the flesh, the concu- 
piscence of the eyes, and the pride of life sufficient 
of themselves to satisfy the craving of the soul? No, 
he cannot find here a fixture of tenure, no matter how 
firm the grasp he has of the world, he feels there is 
nothing in it but hollowness. He feels the body de- 
caying bit by bit and the soul ripening more and more. 
If the world was the object of man's destiny, he would 
have in him the image of the world and the crowning 
excellences of his life would rest in the three concu- 
piscences already referred to, and would constitute 



36 



The Messiah's Message 



the bright constellations in the firmament of his soul, 
but we know they darken, disorder, and blur the soul. 
The voice of humanity through historians, poets, and 
philosophers teaches us that man after he has gained 
everything in this world to satisfy his ambition, he is 
still unhappy, for the wants of the soul are of an- 
other kind. Man is ever on the lookout for some- 
thing to which he may attach himself, and in which 
he may find contentment, but he cannot find it in him- 
self nor in the world, that which he looks for is God. 

We cannot overlook man's moral sentiment, man's 
religious feeling, which differentiates him most of all 
from the lower animal creation in which we detect no 
form of religious sentiment, not even a scintillation, 
neither could any course of training produce it. But 
in man religious sentiment is peculiar to him, and it is 
there not through any course of philosophical teach- 
ing, but is there by virtue of the power of the Creator, 
and forces him to adore and worship the Omnipotent 
Being. 

With all these charms of intelligence and religious 
fervor man would be a failure in creation if there were 
no life beyond the grave. Man has divine elements in 
him as well as human. He is a child of grace as well 
as a child of nature, and the true nature of our being 
should be gauged by the amount of truth and good there 
is in us. The true man is within us and cannot be 
reached by the scalpel of the anatomist. When we 
first commenced to understand the language of our 
mother and passed that stage of life when we watched 
with anxiety her outstretched arms to teach us to walk, 



Man 



37 



we recall from the treasury of the sweetest memory 
how our mother used to point to heaven as our future 
domicile, and the home of Him from whom we have 
all things, then with uplifted hands the first simple 
accents of prayer were babbled from our lips. But 
later on our minds became more matured and we com- 
menced to wonder what does this brilliancy of mid- 
day splendor, or the starlit night mean; why do I 
exist; where am I going; am I here for no other pur- 
pose but to sink back again into dust from whence I 
came? As reason, thought, and intelligence grow, so, 
with them grows a capacity for eternal things, and 
while my body cleaves to the earth, my soul soars 
to some region higher. 

Everything existing has its own peculiar character- 
istics, and from these characteristics we can form an 
unerring judgment of the nature of that thing. We 
feel heat, and from our experience of heat we conclude 
it comes from combustion or fire. We take a piece 
of ice in our hands and feel that it is cold, and we 
have no difficulty in judging the nature of ice. Now 
we feel a something within us, which is distinct from 
the body, we examine its understanding, its will, its 
desires, and reasonably form our conclusion of the 
nature of this something which we call the soul. In 
this soul we feel an innate desire to break those chains 
that fetter us to the earth in order that we may fly to a 
more serene atmosphere ; we wish that the prison doors 
be battered down of our earthly bondage in order that 
we may move in a land more congenial to the spirit 
within us. A form shines on the beautiful and bright 



38 



The Messiah's Message 



mirror of creation, it is the face of the Creator. The 
more we look on that face, the greater is the desire 
on our part to get closer to it, and we conclude that 
it is He and not the mirror that is the object of our 
life. The mirror and all its beauties are transient, 
but that which is mirrored is eternal. Forthwith I 
conclude that I have now found out the reason why I 
exist. I see my destiny. I am immortal. A voice 
speaks to me from that mirror, and says, " I am the 
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, 
Who is, Who was, and Who is to come." 

Death arrives, what is it? It is only a physical 
and chemical disintegration of the material particles 
of our organism. The soul is simple, is spiritual, and 
could not share in the fate of the body, because it 
is an immaterial substance, it cannot therefore be sub- 
ject to disintegration. It must subsist as it is, and 
can only be destroyed by annihilation. 

In the late Russo-Japanese War the Japanese 
soldiers distinguished themselves for their bravery; 
they rushed intrepidly to death because they believed 
their souls would live elsewhere. This was the secret 
of their courage on the battlefield. Hope in a future 
life is the patrimony of the human race, it is as 
deeply rooted in the human race as belief in God. 
Long before the Christian era it gave rise to the wor- 
ship of the Manes, and the Hebrew nation believed 
that at death they went back to their fathers, " into 
Sheol." Why should what is noblest on earth, the 
very breath of God, why should the human soul die? 
Renan once said, " The man who sits down to think 



Man 



39 



of his future destiny, strikes an arrow into his heart, 
which he will never be able to pull out." " If I had 
no other proof," says Rousseau, " of the immortality 
of the soul than the triumph of the wicked and the 
oppression of the good in this world, this alone would 
prevent all doubt. Such shocking discord in the 
harmony of the universe would call for an explanation. 
I should say to myself, All does not end with this 
life, things will be set aright after death." " From 
the heart of human misery is drawn the strongest ar- 
gument in favor of a future life, it obliged Provi- 
dence to a to-morrow as a tardy justification of its 
government. In view of the miseries and unequal 
allotments of this life, we appeal to God, and when 
our cry goes unanswered, when all appears to be in 
disorder around us, there is only one possible con- 
clusion, viz., that a time will come when full justice 
will be rendered to everyone; that death is not a 
final collapse, but that the soul is destined for an- 
other life where satisfaction will be made alike to the 
divine Justice and human reason." " If death," says 
Plato, " were the dissolution and annihilation of the 
whole man, the wicked man would be too great a 
gainer, being delivered at the same time from his 
body, his soul, and his vices. But since the soul is 
immortal, it has no other means of escaping the evils 
which await the wicked than by learning wisdom and 
practicing virtue." When we see men warring against 
religious conviction and a future life, they are endeav- 
oring to free their morals from restraint and their mind 
from a rebuking conscience. 



40 



The Messiah's Message 



All assure us that we are not as the butterfly which 
crumbles into dust after unfolding its beauty during 
the bright days of Summer. The deep and fervent 
language of the heart of man is to be believed and 
not mistrusted when it tells us of a future state, 
where our capacities will receive their full develop- 
ment, and every wish its complete satisfaction. There 
will be no wandering abroad in search of what we 
cannot find at home. These longings of our soul have 
been put there by our Creator, and for some purpose. 
He has filled us with insatiable yearnings which this 
earth cannot supply, and He would be a deceiver if He 
would not make provision for their realization. 
Surely He did not plant them there in mockery, if He 
did, man would be the great error of creation. He 
would be the painful toiler whose hopes should be 
counted by his disappointments, the weary and thirsty 
traveler deceived by the phantom mirage, the befooled 
expectant of a happiness which he is never to enjoy. 
But no, God is no deceiver. Man is the chosen heir 
of the future, and when we cry out to Him for happi- 
ness in the hereafter, we may rest assured that He will 
reply back and say, " You are children of eternity and 
not of time/' 



MAN'S OBJECT 

Everything that is made is made for some object. 
The mechanic who makes a piece of mechanism from 
a toy to a locomotive engine has in his mind the object 
for which he is making it. If, for an example, a watch- 
maker makes a watch, his object is that all the springs 
and wheels, so beautifully and mutually adjusted, may 
record the right time. But he never could make that 
watch unless he had known what time was or 
meant; unless he had a knowledge of the object, time. 
The eye of man is the subject of light, and if we never 
had seen light we never could have understood why the 
eye was made, or made as it is made. We would have 
a very defective knowledge of the watch or eye if 
we had not known their relations to time and light. 
Let us ascend higher in the world of creations and 
apply this course of truthful reasoning to the greatest 
creature on earth, Man. Man is a subject made for 
some object, and in order that we may understand 
why man was made, and how he is made, we must 
have a knowledge of that object for which he was 
made, and when he finds this object, then man will 
know himself in his first principle. And we would have 
a very defective knowledge of man if we did not know 
the object for which he was made and his relations 
to that object. 

4 41 



42 



The Messiah's Message 



There are intermediate and mediate objects. The 
watch, the locomotive engine, the beautiful hat with its 
plumes and feathers were not made to be placed in 
windows for the admiration of the people that pass 
by, such a conclusion would be absurd. It other words 
they were not made for themselves, if they were, this 
would be their mediate object. But they are put in 
show places for the purpose of attracting purchasers; 
the sale of these articles is the mediate object, while 
their exhibition is only the intermediate object. 
Therefore, they were not made for themselves. 
Neither was man made for himself, and the man who 
believes that he himself is his own object is quite 
ignorant of his constitution. The intermediate ob- 
jects of man are the things of the earth which help him 
along the road of life to the Mediate Object Who made 
him. Whenever we stop half-way and look on the 
things of the earth as the objects of life, then we err 
by taking the intermediate object for the mediate ob- 
ject. 

Unhappily we are so much absorbed with the ex- 
ternal things of the world that we are too apt to allow 
the attention of the internal man to escape us. We 
are so occupied with man's deviations that we are 
often lost on the road. But are there any mile pegs 
on the road of life's journey that indicate to us that 
we should not be deceived by these intermediate ob- 
jects, that they are there only to be used by us as 
helps as we pass along? Yes, there are. The Maker 
of man is not alone his Maker, but also his Illuminator. 
And when He made man He placed in him an in- 



Man's Object 



43 



telligence, a will, a conscience, and through these He 
teaches us what the fundamental principle of our con- 
stitution is, that the object for which He made us is 
not these transitory intermediate creatures of the 
world, but for Himself who is the eternal object of 
our existence. We are not for ourselves but for God. 
The force of life does not spring from ourselves but 
from a force outside ourselves, a creator, and this 
Creator is the object of our life. Suppose you tell 
your companion that he should not think of anything 
but himself, he would reply that would be unreasona- 
ble, suppose you tell him not to love anything but him- 
self, he would reply, my conscience does not direct 
so, suppose you tell him not to live for anything but 
himself, he would reply, my heart does not suggest 
so, but on the contrary it suggests everything manly 
and generous in nature. Therefore, man's mind, man's 
conscience, and man's heart know and feel and ac- 
knowledge that man is not made for himself even 
when his conduct contradicts it. 

There is a fundamental principle in the order of 
God's providence that gives us the key with which 
we see the plan of the providence of God. That key 
is this axiom : Everything that is made, is made for 
some object and end exterior to itself, in which it 
finds its greatest good. The higher the order of the 
creature the greater the end for which it was made, 
and the nobleness of the creature is derived from the 
nobleness of the end for which it was made. The 
earth of which man's body was made, reached not its 
end, or greater good, until it was transformed into 



44 



The Messiah's Message 



the body of man. The body of man reached not its 
end or greater good until it was animated by a spir- 
itual soul. The soul reached not even the beginning 
of her end until God gave her the supernatural light 
and grace which begins her communion with God. 
The soul brought into divine relations with God does 
not reach the consummation of her good until ad- 
vancing by degrees on the way of truth and justice 
she reaches the open vision of God, and finds the full- 
ness of good in her beatific union with Him. This 
is the explanation of those sighs and yearnings of 
man for something better than he is himself. This is 
the explanation of those incessant wanderings abroad 
of his mind and heart in search of what he cannot 
find at home. This is the explanation why man pours 
out before eternity the groans of limitless desire. It 
it quite evident, therefore, that man cannot find the 
contenting object in himself. 

The soul is more than the body, yet the body's 
attractions arrest us whenever we attempt to reflect 
on the beauty of the soul and its object. In order, 
therefore, that we may know our soul we must close 
the windows of the senses that the interior house be 
lighted up with a light that is not of the world and 
then all its secret beauties can be observed, and in 
the search we shall find the treasure, the great object 
of our creation. The noblest thing in man is that he 
bears on him the image and likeness of his Creator. 
There is a vast difference between the image and like- 
ness. We see the image of George Washington in 
the marble statue sculptured to represent him, but we 



Man's Object 



45 



see the likeness of the father in the son. The image 
is something cold and lifeless, but the likeness is some- 
thing warm and lifelike. Man as a rational being 
has the image of God in him, and as a spiritual being 
has the likeness of God in him. The likeness is some- 
thing more exalted than the image. The likeness has 
grades of nobility. The spiritual nobility of man 
ascends higher and higher according to the graces with 
which God exalts the image into the likeness of the 
eternal majesty. The very fact of man being made 
to the image of God qualifies him of being capable to 
receive the likeness of God. The image is the natural 
preparation for the likeness. The first foundation of 
this likeness we receive in Baptism, it is the super- 
natural gift of faith, and the inspiration of hope, but 
the likeness itself is the supernatural gift of charity 
which gives to the soul the life of divine love. 

St. Thomas gives us the three stages in which we 
move towards God. " First, there is the appetite to 
know and love God that is formed in our nature. 
Secondly, there is the actual or habitual knowledge and 
love of God, formed by grace in our soul. Thirdly, 
there is the soul advanced to the image and likeness of 
God's glory. The first image is in all men; the sec- 
ond is in the just; the third is in the blessed." This 
sublime teaching of St. Thomas shows to us the 
higher principles of humanity through the invisible 
elements of the soul, directing their steps towards their 
ultimate end or object. 

Let us accompany man further on in his journey 
of life. We have seen that it is impossible to under- 



4 6 



The Messiah's Message 



stand the nature of anything unless we know the 
ultimate end for which it exists; this end explains 
everything. To do anything, to make anything with- 
out an end would be the very height of unreasonable- 
ness. When we see a tourist with a lot of luggage, 
on examination of that luggage we approximately 
form a judgment into what kind of country he is 
about to visit. He equips himself according to the 
environments surrounding his journey. We also have 
seen the nature of man, that he has upon his soul the 
impress of his Maker, that he is the subject of his 
Maker. Now man being made for God, he is so 
equipped in his spiritual nature as to make him capa-^ 
ble of union with God. " Jesus saith to them, Whose 
image and inscription is this? They said to Him, 
Caesar's. Then He said to them, Render therefore 
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the 
things that are God's." The coin of the realm bears 
the image and inscription of the sovereign. The 
image and name of the sovereign is cast on perisha- 
ble metal, and whilst that metal lasts the sovereign 
asserts his claim. Now the soul of man is the spiritual 
creation of God, and bears His image and the inscrip- 
tion of His law, and this signet shows the claim that 
God, man's sovereign, has upon the soul. When man 
was first formed by his Creator, He gave him a 
memory that was retentive of God without forget- 
fulness, He gave him an understanding by which he 
knew God without error, He gave him a will by 
which he was to love God without cupidity for other 
things. But when man violated the law or command of 



Man's Object 



47 



God, the image of God was not utterly destroyed, we 
still have memory but it is prone to forget fulness, 
we still have our understanding but it is subject to er- 
ror, we still have love, but it is given to concupiscence. 
These are the equipments with which we are furnished 
for our journey of life, but when we lose or misuse 
them, naturally we perish on the way. 

Let us examine some of the outlines of this signet 
and see if the image of God is in any way effaced by 
friction with the world; have we allowed the inter- 
mediate things of the world to erase that image? It 
is quite evident that the material things of the world 
like dense clouds hang between God and man, and ob- 
scure the vision of God and spiritual things. They 
curtain God from us. We are commanded by God to 
love Him with our whole mind. What is life without 
love? Love is the wealth of the soul. We are poor 
without it. Love is the gold of the soul enriching 
it and making it glow with the brilliancy of its bur- 
nished beauty and goodness. When the gifts and 
powers of the highly gifted are properly devoted what 
wonderful things they accomplish for the good of 
mankind, but on the contrary when their gifts are 
wasted in mental pursuits that seek only vanity, am- 
bition, or pleasure, they disgrace the soul and expend 
the body. If God has blessed you with a special bodily 
beauty or exceptional intelligence, consider these as 
priceless gems. A flaw in a gem, be it a diamond or 
ruby, deteriorates it, and reduces its value. The flaw 
of pride or sensuality will deteriorate both your cor- 
poral and spiritual beauty. Pride, vanity, lust, are 



4 8 



The Messiah's Message 



flaws in the brilliants of the soul. The objects that 
reach the mind enrich it with knowledge, but the object 
of our love transforms us to such a degree that we 
rob the object of our love of some of its gems. When 
we love God, our soul expands with the qualities of 
Him who is the object of our love. Love is the most 
beautiful flower in the garden of heaven, its fragrance 
predominates over all other fragrances there. And 
when heaven's atmosphere becomes surcharged with 
it, celestial zephyrs carry the surplus to earth. Ask 
yourselves the question, do you obey that command 
of God and love Him with your mind, with your 
whole mind? The boundaries of the mind of man 
are like the ocean, they embrace worlds with all their 
varied contents, they embrace time with all its mo- 
ments, they embrace science with all its discoveries, 
they embrace history with all its facts. The flight of 
the mind is still further, it passes beyond the limits of 
the finite and salutes the Infinite from afar, for our 
aspirations carry us there. The pure flame of love 
bears the soul on its wings and deposits it in the man- 
sions where all is loveliness. Now what is the nature 
of our stewardship of this mind? It has a sad his- 
tory with some. It is employed by them to destroy 
the cosmical order of the universe by professing that 
outside the material objects in the world there is no 
other object for man to live. It labors to haul down 
its own nobility from its high elevation to a lower 
plane. If we want a proof of the extravagant errors 
into which the mind of man plunged with regard to 
its theories of human nature, we have but to read those 



Man's Object 



49 



put forth by the philosophers of this unbelieving age. 
For virtue they give us vice in all its heinous forms. 
For a God they give us the free indulgence of our 
brutal passions. For heaven they give us a head 
crowned with laurel to perpetuate to posterity some 
relic of our barbarism. This is the teaching of mod- 
ern philosophy, these are the impure dreams of those 
who refuse to acknowledge God as the final end of 
man. 

How do we use our will, as an equipment of the 
soul, to assist us to obtain the object of our life? Its 
compass, too, is great, even greater than the mind, be- 
cause we can desire more than we can see or under- 
stand. I am afraid we love the world too 
much; when we love it too much, when we love 
it extravagantly, when we love it with passion, 
we become cold in our love for God, and his bright 
image and likeness become so neglected that their 
polished surface is obscured. The divine image, the 
divine likeness has faded away. When we love the 
world and rarely look beyond it, and become so dis- 
tracted with it, we make its accumulation of knowl- 
edge, human inventions, and the resources of pleas- 
ure, the final object of our life, we turn from God who 
is our object and worship self, and from the fragile 
materials of our environment we build up a temple 
where we adore idols of clay, and form a ritual from 
pride, vanity, and sensuality. We drop down into the 
abysses of turpitude and degradation, and break the 
chains of gold that bound us to God. 

This idea cannot be more forcibly expressed than 



The Messiah's Message 



by quoting the language of Brienza. " The human 
soul, created by God, and capable of God, finds nothing 
among created things, however rich, or beautiful, that 
can really make her happy. They cannot enter into 
competition with the Divine Goodness, who is pleased 
in His condescension to be the one predeterminate 
object of human happiness. If you impress the image 
of a seal in soft wax, and then put some other kind 
of seal upon that which has already been deeply 
imprinted, you will not succeed in giving that new 
impression, but will only spoil the one already made. 
But if you take the first seal, and fit it into the im- 
pression anew, it will exactly correspond in all its re- 
liefs to the hollows left by the first impression. Im- 
press that seal with greater force, and the image of 
that seal will have greater depth and vividness. So in 
creating the soul of man, God imprinted His image 
upon her as with His own divine seal, producing His 
likeness, and leaving those hollows in her spiritual 
powers, that can only be filled up and fitted to make 
her happy by the reliefs of His own divine perfec- 
tion; and whenever the impression of the image from 
that divine seal is renewed with greater force, the 
form of that divine image enters more sharply into 
the soul and penetrates to greater depths. But if you 
let any created thing try to seal its image in your 
spiritual nature, so as to affect you with the attach- 
ment of a greater affection, the beautiful image of 
God will be blurred and spoiled; and the soul, made 
neither of wax or earthly matter, will feel herself op- 
pressed and deformed/' 



Man's Object 



5i 



" Love not the world, nor the things that are in the 
world. If any man love the world, the charity of 
the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world 
is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence 
of the eyes and the pride of life, which is not of the 
Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth 
away, and the concupiscence thereof, but he that doeth 
the will of God abideth forever." And the creatures 
of the world that come within the range of man's three 
concupiscences stand between man and God if he 
abuses them. They form a dense cloud around the 
soul of man and prevent him from seeing the goal for 
which he is making. We become so submerged in 
the world that, the deafening noise and crashing con- 
fusion of its commerce smothers the voice of the soul 
when it wishes to commune with the Being of a 
higher sphere. The fingers of the world clench tight 
on the throat of the soul and suffocate it. In its gasps 
we distinguish but one word: gold, gold, Mammon, 
Mammon. Man has to accept the creatures and things 
of the world, because they are the bounteous gifts of 
God, but he must not see in them, or use them as a 
seasoning for his sensuous appetites. If he does, 
then he can never rise above them, and his attempts to 
soar higher than their plane would be as futile as the 
attempts of a bird winged from the shot of a sports- 
man's gun would be to fly into its kingdom of the 
air. The goods, therefore, of the world are good in 
themselves, and while their legitimate use, and some- 
times their privation, assist us towards the Eternal 
Good, it happens very often that their abundance and 



52 



The Messiah's Message 



misuse become dangerous, and their ponderous weight 
brings our side of the balance downwards. Do not, 
therefore, allow its lusts, its lies, its vanities to deceive 
you. Do not permit its phantoms and flatteries to 
cheat you. Its pleasures are fugitive, its wealth is 
ungrateful. It is a world of struggles, rivalries and 
ambitions, of frauds and deceits. 

There are three potencies against which the soul of 
man has to contend in this great battle of the con- 
cupiscences. The first is the attractiveness of the 
world's goods, which have no need of painting or cos- 
metics, they need not anything to beautify their ap- 
pearance in order to make them more winsome. They 
smile pleasantly at us, and we unfortunately pause too 
often to listen to their sweet blandishments. The 
second is our free-will, which is always prone to have 
its own way, and our powers are chained to it, and 
have to follow it, it is stronger and in the tug of war 
it drags them to its side, the downward course. The 
third is the fact of the soul being united to a body 
unregenerated, a body full of sensuality. The body 
of man is like a sponge, it absorbs evil through every 
pore while it swims in the pool where the spawn of 
human lust and luxury breed, live, and thrive. This 
matrimonial alliance blinds the intelligence of the soul 
so much that we often mistake the vapid nothings for 
the loftier things for which we were made. When 
you are at the bottom of the moral ladder don't lose 
courage, creep up again. God calmed the waters of 
Lake Genesareth at the prayer of St. Peter, He will 
also calm the invisible waves which ruffle the deep of 



Man's Object 



53 



the heart, if you supplicate Him as St. Peter did. If 
the evil odors of sin from the outer world mingle 
with the scents and flowers of virtue in the inner 
world, the latter will prevail by cultivation. Man's 
heart is a temple of false and impure idols, close it up, 
tear it down, rebuild it, and replace the idols of filth 
with the emblem of the Crucified that speaks to you 
of the purest of love. Tear out from your heart that 
rapacious eagle of a carnivorous nature and put in its 
place the clean and immaculate dove of holy purity. 
Do this and you will realize the fragility of human 
things, for they are weeds, bubbles, dreams. 



SHALL OUR BODIES RISE AFTER DEATH? 

Death is an inevitable condition for all. There is' 
no power on earth that can arrest it, there is no title 
that can dispense it, there is no merit that can exempt 
us from it, there is no artifice that can elude it, there 
is no dignity that can fly from it, there is no medicine 
that can free us from it, there is no prayer that can 
relieve us of it. The bleached hair, the blanched 
cheek, the furrowed brow will come as precursors of 
death no matter how unwilling we may be to receive 
them. As long as the glow of youth and strength 
blooms on our cheeks, as long as the muscle is strong 
and supple, as long as the vibrant note of health rings 
out its power and defiancy, so long do we live merrily 
and think only of the present, pleasure is our god, and 
time is slow to supply opportunities to meet the de- 
mands of indulgence, and as each day sets with its 
brilliant bubbles blown out we look for the morrow to 
hasten on its dawn in order that new fields may be sup- 
plied for more love and pleasure although their cups 
may have bitter dregs. But what a change comes over 
us when a few weak silken hairs hang loosely as a 
fringe around our heads. With brow bent towards the 
earth, and a few more steps are wanting on life's last 
walk and we bend so low that the discoloring of our 
flesh is like a reflection of the color of the clay into 

54 



Shall Our Bodies Rise After Death? 55 

which we soon shall mold. The poet beautifully 
expresses it when he says, " As the leaves of trees the 
race of man is found, now green in youth, now wither- 
ing on the ground." 

"And if Christ be in you; the body indeed is dead 
because of sin, but the spirit liveth because of justi- 
fication. And if the spirit of Him, that raised up 
Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, He that raised up 
Jesus Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your 
immortal bodies, because of the spirit that dwelleth in 
you." These sublime words written of man, but in- 
spired by God, contain a great secret of God's wisdom, 
an incomprehensible mystery of the economy of re- 
demption, namely, as Jesus Christ, although the Son 
of God, is truly dead, because He took flesh similar 
to the flesh of sinful man; so ought we die, as far as 
the body is concerned, because we have a body cor- 
rupted by sin. It is also clear from these words of 
St. Paul that as we are participators of the spirit of 
God the Father, so are we participators of the great 
privilege of the resurrection of His divine Son, because 
by virtue of this Spirit, the very same God, who caused 
Jesus Christ to rise from the dead, will also be the 
cause of our resurrection. So that, as we have in 
common with Jesus Christ the divine filiation as far 
as the soul is concerned, so should we have in common 
with Him the privileges of His risen body so far as 
the body is concerned. This glorious resurrection of 
the Son of God is not a mystery solely confined to 
Himself but extended to all Christians. 

As we all sinned in Adam and are subject to death 



56 



The Messiah's Message 



as the penalty of sin as Adam was, so are we all em- 
braced in Jesus Christ and in Him are we resurrected. 
It is true that in Jesus Christ nailed to the cross, 
Adam and his posterity, the whole human race was 
also crucified and died. And the reason is, when the 
Son of God became Man, He did not unite Himself 
to one individual man, but to the whole human species, 
all humanity ; and for this reason was He able to bring 
to a successful issue the cause of all sinners, because 
He united and represented the nature of all sinners 
exclusive of penalty. Christ was like a universal man, 
as one man in whom all men were crucified, died, and 
buried, and in whom all men were resurrected. Christ 
acting as the representative of all men, acquired for all 
men the right of becoming the children of God, and 
of enjoying all the prerogatives, all the rights of this 
divine filiation. And as the sin of Adam, the misery 
it entailed, its punishment, is not contracted unless by 
means of generation, by means of a carnal birth from 
sinful man, in like manner by means of a spiritual 
generation from Jesus Christ do we inherit His sanc- 
tity, His grace, His privileges, His recompense. Now 
this second generation, this spiritual birth, whence 
men are reborn by Jesus Christ to God is accomplished 
by baptism. In its waters man leaves the old Adam, 
and with him as our head leaves the old consequences 
resulting from his prevaricating, and is reborn as a 
new creature, and united to Christ becomes a mem- 
ber of the same body of which Jesus Christ is the 
head. Now as there is nothing more simple, more 
natural, more just, than that the children should in- 



Shall Our Bodies Rise After Death? 57 

herit the riches and glory of the father, and that the 
members divide the prerogatives of the head, and be 
always found united to it ; so likewise nothing is more 
clear than that they who are baptized participate in all 
the mysteries of Jesus Christ and are sharers of all His 
merits and in all His privileges. It is conclusive, 
therefore, that retaining in us this spirit, this grace of 
Jesus Christ received in baptism we become incorpo- 
rated with Him; hence as Jesus Christ rose from the 
dead corporally, so ought we rise, too ; and as God the 
Father has resurrected His Son who is cosubstantial 
with Him, thus in like manner should He cause our 
resurrection who are His adopted children. 

If we preserve the sanctifying grace which we re- 
ceived in baptism, or lost it through sin and recovered 
it by penance, and at death we find ourselves incor- 
porated with Jesus Christ, we must rise from the dead 
as Christ rose. Because the spirit of Christ that 
abided in our soul, abided also in the body; and as 
original sin left a poisonous germ of death, so did the 
divine spirit leave a germ of resurrection and life that 
cannot be barren and unfruitful but that will in time 
develop in us and have force to rise from the womb 
of the earth as lilies hidden by a celestial whiteness, as 
flowers eternally florescent before God. 

When God created all things He so created them 
that, harmony, order, and proportion were observed 
between material and formal causes, between bodies 
and the principles that governed them, in other words 
a proportion between matter and form should be 
strictly observed. For example, the intellectual 



58 



The Messiah's Message 



spirit is the substantial form of the human body, The 
Creator when creating the human body, He propor- 
tioned it, He harmonized it with the soul so that if the 
life of the soul be perpetual so should that of the body 
be perpetual. God, therefore, in the construction of 
human nature conceded to the body something more 
that what it had a right to from natural principles; 
that is, He gave to it a certain incorruptibility by 
means of which it became a Matter in keeping and 
worthy of being united to a Form which was im- 
mortal, the soul. Since man by sin disturbed the 
natural order existing between the soul and body, the 
primitive order between the soul and body was also 
disturbed. As the soul was despoiled of sanctifying 
grace which was divinely infused into it and elevated 
it to God; so was the body deprived of the disposition 
divinely accorded to it, of being incorruptible whence 
it was raised to the dignity of the soul ; and death fol- 
lowed which was not the act of God. Death, there- 
fore, is not the natural condition of man, it has been 
brought about accidentally, as a consequence and an 
accompaniment of sin. Now, this sad accidentality, 
that has changed the condition of man, is removed by 
Jesus Christ. By the merits of His Passion and death 
He has destroyed death, the same divine virtue has 
now restored to the body the privilege of incorrupti- 
bility which it had originally conceded to it, and by 
which man shall one day be raised to a life no longer 
subject to death. When, therefore, we view the resur- 
rection of the body in relation to its end, it is not a 
miracle or a fact outside the natural laws, but a fact 



Shall Our Bodies Rise After Death? 59 

most natural, most simple, most conformable to the 
laws primitively impressed upon nature by, God; be- 
cause there is nothing more natural than that matter 
be reunited to its form, the soul to the body. When, 
therefore, we speak of the resurrection of the body, 
we don't speak of any innovation, but of reforming 
the condition of the body. We don't treat of intro- 
ducing a new order, but of restoring the old; we 
don't speak of giving the body a new destiny, but of 
restoring to it that which it had lost; we don't mean 
to change the primitive order, but to reinstate human 
nature to its original position in which God had 
placed it. 

The doctrine of the resurrection discovers for us the 
title of our future greatness, the soul being immortal 
lives after the death of the body, but according to its 
essence it is the substantial form of its body. If the 
body would not rise again there would be a form al- 
ways separated from its matter. The perpetual cor- 
ruption of the human body is, therefore, contrary to 
nature, and it is contrary, also, to nature that the soul 
should always be separated from the body. Now that 
which is contrary to nature cannot last always, there- 
fore, the soul cannot always be separated from the 
body. Far then be it from being incomprehensible 
to say that there will be a resurrection of our bodies, 
but it would be strange and inconceivable to teach an 
eternal widowhood of the soul from the body. 

Furthermore, without the resurrection of the body 
the natural order of the universe would be compro- 
mised, it would be imperfect, it would be somewhat 



6o 



The Messiah's Message 



unhinged. The fruits of the earth become decom- 
posed and reproduce themselves. Every species of 
seed after it becomes corrupt sprouts more lustily and 
exuberantly. All created things die and rise again 
in a new form. In the midst of this ebb and flow of 
things, it is impossible that man alone, their earthly 
sovereign, should die never to rise. No, it would be 
more in keeping with all other beings that the old al- 
liance of the soul and body be recalled never again 
to be severed, to be united with Jesus Christ to reign 
with Him forever in heaven because united they served 
Him on earth. In this manner would the harmony of 
creation be sustained, and the wonderful harmony of 
the universe be without an exception to mar its mar- 
velous order. 

St. Paul speaking of our manner of resurrection 
says, " But some man will say : How do the dead 
rise again? or with what manner of body shall they 
come? Senseless man, that which thou sowest, thou 
so west not the body that shall be ; but bare grain, as of 
wheat, or some of the rest. But He giveth it a body 
as He will; not to every seed its proper body. All 
flesh is not the same flesh : but one is the flesh of men, 
another of beasts, another of birds, another of fishes." 
In order to understand the force of this reply of St. 
Paul it will be necessary to keep before our mind these 
two truths. First, when it is said that we rise in the 
very same body, it is not necessary for the maintaining 
of this proposition that the risen body should have pre- 
cisely all the same matter that it had during life. In 
fact, this very body that we have now is not, rigor- 



Shall Our Bodies Rise After Death? 61 

ously speaking, the same body in all its parts which 
we had when we were born. In the cradle we were 
very puny and delicate, but now we are big and ro- 
bust. As we increase in years the aid of food, drink, 
air, heat, and many other elements that we know of 
occur externally to the nourishment and increment of 
the body, so that the body of an adult may be said not 
to retain any of that matter which composed it when a 
babe. That first matter which formed the infant by 
little and little is renewed by other matter, and as the 
infant increases in years the body becomes completely 
made up from extraneous elements. Yet all these 
changes do not imply that the body of the adult is 
different from that rocked in the cradle. Because the 
soul is the substantial form of the body and gives to 
the body its definite being and life, and as the soul in 
the different ages of man is always the same, so 
through it, the body has always the same definite, sub- 
stantial being, and accordingly always remains the 
same. Secondly, because the force of vegetation, nu- 
trition, and growth of the body resides in the soul, it 
is the soul that unites to the preexisting matter in the 
body all that which the body receives from external 
substances, and it is the soul that transforms these 
new materials and assimilates them to that which was 
before in the body, and makes them become the prop- 
erty of the body to form its very flesh. Now as the 
soul is always the same in the exercise of this agency, 
in like manner is the body always the same to which 
it is united notwithstanding the constant losses, and 
continual renovations to which it is subject. 



62 



The Messiah's Message 



In what, therefore, consists the miracle of the resur- 
rection of our bodies ? God will effect in one instance 
what takes the whole time of our life to effect in us. 
From a germ scarcely visible in the maternal womb, 
from a tiny infant come to light, is formed with time 
and by the supply of external substances, this body so 
grand and so perfect. In like manner at the last day, 
from a small particle of dust that remains from our 
bodies, by the accession of external substances God 
will re-form in an instant of time for each of us a 
perfect body; and as our body of to-day, although re- 
newed, enlarged, and grown by means of external sub- 
stances, is numerically the same as that when an infant 
because it is formed from the same matter, united to 
the same soul; so will our body risen from the dead 
by the omnipotence of God, be numerically the same 
as that we had in the early hours of life, because 
united to the same soul, and because formed by God 
upon the same basis of the same matter, the only dif- 
ference being, what will be accomplished at the last 
day in the twinkling of an eye is now being done leis- 
urely and with time. 

From these observations, the mind of St. Paul is 
clearly understood, namely, that God will do unto 
our bodies at the last day, that which He does to the 
plants all around us. There existed nothing of the 
plants but a tiny germ, and God assimilates to this 
germ external substances, to it He gives increment, 
and forms of it a tree, in like manner as nothing re- 
mains of our bodies but a particle of dust, God will 
add to it other substances to reproduce the body. 



Shall Our Bodies Rise After Death? 63 

Our dust in the hands of God shall be like unto the 
little seed in the womb of the earth, which is a begin- 
ning, a base of a new reproduction; and as the tree 
formed is numerically the same as what was in the 
germ, although it has nothing identical with it but the 
germ and substantial form, everything else has come 
to it from external substances; such will be the case 
in the resurrection of our bodies re-formed by God in 
the manner just described, it shall be numerically the 
very same body as we had in life, although preserving 
nothing identical except a little dust and the substan- 
tial form of the soul. 

But what has become of the bodies that have not 
even a grain of dust left, such as bodies that pass into 
other substances in the great laboratory of nature, 
some consumed by fire, others eaten by wild beasts, by 
vultures, by fishes, and some by cannibal man himself? 
The flesh of these bodies has been changed into other 
substances to form other bodies. St. Paul has said 
not every body has the same conditions or character- 
istics, the same nature. The flesh of an irrational 
animal is not the same as that of man. The differ- 
ence between flesh and flesh lies in this : By the nat- 
ural law matter should follow the conditions of its 
form. Now the flesh of the brute entirely perishes, 
because its form perishes, that is, its sensitive soul to 
which it is united. But the flesh of man does not 
perish, because it is the matter of a form that is im- 
mortal, for such is the human soul : in this way does it 
always preserve, even in the midst of dissolution a 
germ of immortality in order to render itself equal to 



6 4 



The Messiah's Message 



its immortal form. Where, therefore, the flesh of 
brutes is changed into other substances and perish, the 
flesh of man, although dissolved by fire and scattered 
to ashes, although eaten as food, is not totally de- 
stroyed, it is not wholly transformed into another 
substance. God will recover that which He rendered 
indestructible and restore it to that soul which first re- 
animated it. What scenes the touch of the cold wand 
of death will unfold to us when the soul bursts the 
hampering ligaments of mortality! We can't stay or 
defer the breaking up of the mold that encases the 
soul, but the inspired words of St. Paul just now re- 
peated reveal to us the restoration of this mold — the 
body. 



RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT 
Part I 

Religious sentiment is natural to man. Scientific 
research has established its universality. Morality 
and religiosity are the attributes of the whole human 
kingdom. Research has been prosecuted amongst the 
most savage tribes with the result that everywhere 
there have been found authentic manifestations of re- 
ligiosity, of morality. 

There is in man an ineradicable need which ex- 
presses itself by adoration and veneration for an un- 
known object, but one that is foreseen as superior and 
necessary. He desires to salute this loved object with 
his lips, or rather with his heart, as the devout pagan 
used to kiss the images of the gods. Humanity has 
always worshiped, and rather than worship nothing 
it has bowed down to wood and stone. 

In all epochs, amongst all peoples, amidst the bar- 
barous as well as the civilized, in the splendor of 
progress as in the obscurity of barbarism, you will 
always find altars, sacrifice, prayer. Tribes have been 
found and are in existence to-day destitute not only 
of the elegancies, but of the most necessary arts of 
humanized existence, ignorant of letters and of laws, 
without ideas of property, of no fixed habitation, but 

6 5 



66 



The Messiah's Message 



roaming wildly through the forest, but no tribe or peo- 
ple however barbarous has ever yet been discovered 
without some sort of religious belief. Man may for- 
get arts, wisdom, civility, but never can he forget his 
religious tenets. " The Eskimo in his ice cave ; the 
Indian under the leafy domes of his forests;" the 
Negro blackened on the sands by the sun of a fiery 
desert; the Malay isolated in his distant lands; the 
Scythian hunter roaming in the forest ; the Zulu in his 
kraal ; the head hunter in Borneo : in a word, " man- 
kind of every period of his history, in every stage of 
his civilization, and in whatever part of the planet he 
may be discovered looks beyond the tomb and speaks 
of immortality. This sublime cry reaches us also 
from every druidical stone of Great Britain, from 
the blood-stained altars of paganism, from the with- 
ered lips of the mummies in their sarcophagi." 
Wherever are the footprints of man there, too, are the 
marks of religion. Pagan as well as Christian writers 
have always proclaimed religion, whether false or 
true, to be the foundation of human society. Zeno- 
phon says " that the most pious cities and nations have 
been the wisest and most lasting." Plutarch says, 
" That it is easier to build a city in the air than to 
constitute a society without belief in the gods." 
Rousseau observes, " that there never was a state 
formed without a religion serving as a foundation." 
Voltaire maintained, " That wherever there is a so- 
ciety religion is absolutely necessary." Numa made 
Rome a holy city that it might become eternal. When 
Caesar on one occasion said something irreverent 



Religious Sentiment 



6 7 



against the gods, Cato and Cicero immediately repri- 
manded him. Fabricius, an officer in the Roman 
army, hearing that Cineas, a philosopher, mocked the 
divinity in the presence of Pyrrhus, said, " Would to 
the gods our enemies may follow this doctrine when 
at war with the Republic." The ancients believed 
that no city could be conquered unless first abandoned 
by the national gods. Woe to the city in which was 
heard that terrible voice which said, " The gods are 
abandoning us." There is, therefore, within us a 
secret voice that speaks from the lowest depths of our 
souls, and speaks to everyone that there is no one that 
has not a faith, a moral, a worship. We may hear 
isolated voices occasionally belching forth the horrid 
anathema of the nonexistence of the supernatural, 
but their voices are hushed to silence by the universal 
prayer of praise, adoration to a supreme Being. 

How can we explain that man has a strong con- 
viction of the existence of a spiritual world. How 
can we explain the fact that humanity from its origin 
has believed itself to possess the knowledge of the 
existence of a God. Man is the only being who has 
dreamt of and imagined a supernatural world, and 
who has made this idea the rule of his private and the 
basis of his public and social life. " Humanity goes 
to God, although sometimes that God is conceived 
after a superstitious fashion. This thirst for belief 
has often allayed itself at most impure sources. Man 
is convinced that there is not here below merely dead 
automatic matter, but that here is something living — 
indeed a living God. His gaze pierces the curtain of 



68 



The Messiah's Message 



matter which surrounds him; under his vesture of 
atoms he feels the pulsations of an immortal spirit. 
It would be truly astonishing had man from the be- 
ginning of his existence been pursuing a chimera. He 
would then be the only being in the world thus con- 
stituted." It is, therefore, revolting to think that after 
this life all is at an end for us. 

We cannot use our moral or intellectual faculties 
without admitting that there is some tie, some relation, 
between us and our Creator; neither can we exercise 
them without admitting that this universe, so full of 
order and harmony as to demand our adoration and 
to excite our astonishment, is directed by the Provi- 
dence of that Creator. No matter to what side we 
turn, no matter in what department we institute re- 
search, everywhere we are met with evidences, that 
all things are administered by a divine wisdom, and 
evidently for that being, who by the power of reason 
can convert all these things to his own use and pleas- 
ure. The dominion of the earth obviously resides in 
man. He stands upon the world erect, sublime, di- 
recting his gaze towards heaven as the domicile of 
his extraction, and capable of comprehending the 
power of God and the glory of His works. This stu- 
pendous exhibition of the universe has no interest for 
any other creature, interest alone for him who par- 
ticipates in the reason and intelligence of the Divinity, 
between them, therefore, there must be some relation. 

If man exhibited nothing beyond the phenomena 
of mere vitality or instinct, we might suppose him to 
be subject to the same laws with the plant that lives. 



Religious Sentiment 



6 9 



and the brute that feels, but besides these he is gifted 
with powers the most diversified and astonishing, pow- 
ers by which we can soar aloft to the prime Mover of 
all things and inundate Him with our love and bene- 
diction. It was not from blind chance that we are 
sprung, nor was it by fortuitous accident we were 
created. There is nothing true, or the human race is 
verily the master work of an agency omnipotent and 
all-wise. Nor did such a Creator generate man, and 
foster him tenderly, and bring him up with solicitude 
to a noble degree of perfection, that, when He had 
gloriously achieved His mighty labors, He left him 
to sink into the eternal misery of death and oblivion. 
If so, life would be a mockery. The stone, the plants, 
the brute beast have no necessity in thinking to exist. 
And why then should we have this privilege? We 
enjoy this privilege because it points to some elysium 
of rest, some port where we drop anchor after buf- 
feting the tempests on the ocean of life. Without 
this harbor of safety, without this asylum, life would 
be a dreary and trackless desert. The gift of intelli- 
gence would be a useless gift, nay more, it would 
be a torture, and would only serve to point out our 
impotent misery when confronted with other things. 
We should envy the destiny of the beast, because 
the oxen draw the plow-share, the lark salutes the 
aurora with its warbling notes, they never suffer re- 
morse for the past, nor have the anguish for the pres- 
ent, nor fear for the future, why then should man be 
continually haunted with these ? Without the hope of 
happiness in a future life, more happiness could be 



The Messiah's Message 



in a watermelon than in the head of a man endowed 
with reason. Now if there be a God who has given 
us life and who by His providence conserves us, our 
hearts ought to overflow with gratitude to Him. If 
there be a God who ordains good and prohibits bad, 
we must obey His sacrosanct laws. If there be a God 
who will call us some day to the tribunal of His eter- 
nal justice, ought we not labor to make amends for 
our trespasses? Ought we not make an oblation to 
Him of our mind, our heart, and our will? This ob- 
lation, this offering is what we call religion, and ac- 
cording to some is defined as the " compendium of 
relations that unite God to man, of the truths that 
bind the finite man with the Infinite. It is the law of 
morality. It is the dazzling splendor of worship, 
the sentiment of gratitude, the adoration of the crea- 
ture to the Creator." 

What would man be to-day without religion? He 
would be as one without a soul, a fetid corpse from the 
grave, a flower that is plucked and thrown on the 
wayside to wither under a burning sun. Byron, the 
poet, says, " a soul without religion is like -a ship in 
a hurricane, or a man surrounded by a desert of sand. 
Its cry is the cry of one that is desolate, fatality is its 
god, heaven is a canopy of iron to which in vain as- 
cend the lamentations of the soul, its voice is a mix- 
ture of imprecation, wailing and desperation that 
draws one to imbrute himself in the sordid sty of his 
passions and the other it leads to suicide." 

From perverted intelligence arises perversion of 
heart. The infidel and sensualist often fly from the 



Religions Sentiment 



7* 



light because it condemns them. In struggling against 
religious conviction most infidels think only of free- 
ing their reason from mystery, their morals from re- 
straint, and their conscience from remorse. With- 
out religion the domestic hearth is a thing of horror, 
the nuptial couch without honor, husband and wife 
without fidelity, matrimony without sanctity, and the 
child without respect or obedience. 

Without religion doubts and fears are hatched, and 
while in the progress of development become terrible 
and pungent. After a man doubts about a Deity he 
begins to doubt about himself. His virtue is lost, 
sweet dreams and suave hopes fly from a soul that has 
no faith, no religion. Then comes sadness and mel- 
ancholy, the soul can taste no sweetness. The bloom 
and springtime of life are gone and faded. Pleas- 
ures wither and vanish before it as flowers in autumn, 
nullity and their skeletons are left. Nought now re- 
mains but the grave. Oh! but that cold grave very 
often chases away these illusions and endows the soul 
with the hope of an eternal life by waking in it the 
voice of God that lay there dreaming. However 
somber and narrow may be the inner valley of the 
human conscience there always remains, as the prophet 
says, a door of hope. " I will give him a door of 
hope in the valley of Acor." A powerful charm, a 
fascination which is sometimes sweet and sometimes 
terrible, leads the thinker and the scholar, and the 
poet eternally back to the supernatural. Renan with 
his hands crossed on his breast and his eyes closed in 
death asked himself in agony on what shore his soul 



72 



The Messiah's Message 



would be wrecked. Strauss, so proud and so con- 
vinced of his scientific nihilism, feeling death at hand, 
asked that the beautiful words of Phoedo on the im- 
mortality of the soul might be read to him. " As to 
those who feel the need of personal immortality, I re- 
fer them to Moses, the Prophets, and to Jesus Christ." 

Voltaire used to say, " If you have only a mar- 
ket town to govern, it must have a religion." What 
would the peasant and the laborer do without belief 
in God, in the soul, in the future state, and without 
the religious sentiment? They would think only of 
what immediately concerned themselves; they would 
be guided only by their impulse instincts, and would 
soon fall back into a savage state. Nothing but prac- 
tical religion is of any service in the moral education 
of man. 

" All moral truths can be taught," wrote Paul Bert, 
" without having recourse to metaphysical obscurities 
and the thunders of Sinai." Such morality is the 
logical consequence of materialism. In fact if, as has 
been taught, thought is only the result of the gray 
matter of the brain, it follows that a man's act will 
depend solely on the condition of his brain, and, hence, 
can never be voluntary; from which it follows that 
there can be no responsibility, no merit, no future life, 
no immortal soul, and no supreme Judge. If this 
were the correct creed, crime would increase with 
frightful rapidity, because the criminal would have a 
right to maintain that if he is not a free agent, that in- 
stinct is his only guide, that he does not deserve pun- 
ishment because he does not believe in God. 



Religious Sentiment 



73 



Morality without God is no morality, because in 
this hypothesis there can be no such thing as duty, 
since there is no one in authority to command. The 
consequences are manifest, man will follow the in- 
stincts of nature, he will be like a lamb if his instincts 
are kindly, and like a wild beast if they are cruel. 
Morality without God is no morality at all; having 
no dependence on any person or thing, it depends 
solely on caprice. We may take or leave what we like 
of it, according to our passions. 

Why are the masses patient under social injustice, 
because their desires, their hopes have been anchored 
elsewhere. Convinced that this life is for them the 
herald of a better, that every suffering in its own way 
is a favor preparing for the patient man a munifi- 
cent reward at the hands of the divine bounty, the 
masses ask but for little in this world, but destroy 
their faith, teach them that there is no future, that 
the present is the great everything, then a breath of 
corrupting lasciviousness will pass over his heart, and 
the wicked man will mercilessly overthrow every ob- 
stacle in his way to pleasure and gain. 

Napoleon used to say " without religion men will 
kill one another for an apple or a pretty woman." 
Men who believe, before committing an evil deed, will 
hesitate. In getting rid of God philosophers of to- 
day snap the last tie that hold men to honor and hon- 
esty. Fear of the police may keep small criminals in 
order, but what influence can it have on those who 
hold in their hands the fate of the police and of the 
entire judicature. " Laws," says Montesquieu, " are 

6 



74 



The Messiah's Message 



like spiders' webs, small flies are caught in them, but 
large ones break through." 

" Let us lay the foundations of our morality in 
GOD, no nation has ever yet ventured to socialize 
atheism," said Robespierre. " Laws only control the 
arm, religion rules the heart," said Portalis. " The 
state has no longer any religion, and whatever hu- 
manitarians may say, this is a real misfortune for 
France, all the taverns in France put together are not 
worth one village church; for there the ills of life are 
forgotten, and hope is received with the HOST," de- 
clared Musset. " Let us learn to see things as they 
are, the true, the good, the ancient, the authoritative 
morality needs the Absolute, aspires to the transcen- 
dental, and finds mainstay in God alone. Conscience, 
like the heart, demands a future. Duty is nothing if 
not sublime, and life would be a comedy but for its 
relation to eternity," said Sherer. " Culture of intel- 
lect without religion in the heart, is only civilized bar- 
barism, and disguised animalism," said Bunsen. 

There is only one principle which can serve as a 
basis for our ideal of duty, and that is religion. If 
the moral law does not depend on an avenging God, 
man is as free as the wild beast in the jungle. No 
man would sacrifice himself for the sake of duty, if 
duty was a human institution. To accept the moral 
law then is to confess that it comes from the mind of 
God alone, that He alone can give expression to it in 
us through the voice of conscience, and it is subject to 
none but God. 

Without religion our life would be a life of com- 



Religious Sentiment 



75 



mercial interests with fraud, of vanity with worldly 
recognition, of hatred with calumny, of envy with 
slander. A life in which all our passions would have 
their tickling incentives, all our appetites their rich 
pasturage, all our instincts their vent. Carnal, 
earthly and animal man would be glutted, and the 
Christian man starve. Eliminate religion from our 
life, and why should not poverty steal, why should not 
revenge for wrongs received, appeal to the dagger. 

When, therefore, every curb to disorder is un- 
checked, every blush from the committal of heinous 
crimes is disregarded, all remorse removed from sin, 
all ties of social rule broken, human society must nec- 
essarily become dislocated, and the criminal code en- 
forced to bring social machinery again into working 
order. Even with this enforcement, " without re- 
ligion, in vain are the governed weak, the rulers strong, 
property fenced by acts of parliament; power, law, 
and influence, invested in its possessors: the whole is 
hollow and baseless; duty wants a motive, and action 
its health fulness; the husk and the shell of the con- 
stitution are there, but its soul and its significance are 
forgotten, all things lose their meaning, and the life 
and vigor of the state become engulfed and swal- 
lowed up in the sands of an arid and barren formal- 
ism." 

That social chaos inevitably follows on the denial 
of a future life is testified by the declarations made 
in Paris convention of 1795, immediately after the 
fall of Robespierre, by deputy Lacointre. He said: 
" A people which is without religion, without form of 



7 6 



The Messiah's Message 



worship, without churches or any form of public serv- 
ice, is also without a country, without national cus- 
toms, and prepares future slavery for itself. Con- 
tempt for religion has been the agent in bringing ruin 
upon the great Empire, and similar fate is in store for 
every nation whose code of laws is not based on the 
immutable foundation of morality and religion." 

When faith goes out, and negation or skepticism 
comes in, evil must abound and accumulate, because 
there is nothing to withstand it, nothing to amend it. 
There is no elysium to attract it, no Tartarus to 
terrify. 

If this world of ours is a thing of chance, owning 
no God but force, no laws but those of matter, then 
morality, duty, faith, become words of vague im- 
port, and are accordingly discarded. Morality is no 
more than the palate by whose smack we judge of the 
utility and the inutility of our actions. 

Open hatred of God has been stated to be the most 
striking characteristic of the present day, certainly it 
cannot be denied that a terrible stream of impiety is 
coursing through the different strata of society. It is 
lamentable to witness the unblushing audacity with 
which society at large publicly parades in politics, in 
science, in the press, and in daily life, the fact of its 
apostasy from God. This is the mournful result of 
intellectual error and moral depravity. Since the 
commencement of the last century unbelief has ad- 
vanced with rapid strides. We find it in the palace 
as well as in the lowly hut, it influences the highest 
minister of the state and the ragged urchin who shouts 



'Religious Sentiment 



77 



in the rear of a popular demonstration. A great evil 
and strange perturbation torment society to-day. This 
evil is the fountain of many others, and this perturba- 
tion ends in producing chaos and confusion in our 
ideas, manners, and customs, by undermining society. 
I mean the diminishing of a truth, a truth above all 
others, namely, of religious belief. The history of 
the world, of its revolutions, of its errors, and of its 
conquests is nothing but a war against religion. Sci- 
ence no longer wishes to recognize religion, nay more, 
with a brazen front it dares to say that religion acts 
as a brake upon the chariot of enlightenment, that it 
clogs the wheel of progress. Literature ostracizes it. 
History effaces it from its pages. The symbol of the 
Crucified, in order that it may become a thing of the 
past, is removed from the schoolroom, from the hospi- 
tal, and even from the domestic hearth. Notice is writ- 
ten upon the door that religion is a trespasser. Thus 
does atheism, without shame, stand forth in the light 
of noonday denuded of all argument, not even a shred, 
and with wanton effrontery endeavors to corrupt and 
rob humanity of its inherent purity of belief in God. It 
is this false teaching that is crushing and desolating 
the heart of man. 

From where and to whom are we to look for a 
saviour to remedy this state of things? Who will 
purify this muddy stream? Only Him who succeeded 
in freeing the world from heathen spells, Jesus 
Christ and His Gospel. As He swept away those 
false divinities to which the whole heathen world bent 
the knee in the days of ancient paganism, so will His 



78 



The Messiah's Message 



church sweep away the idols of materialism, agnosti- 
cism, and sensualism that the world to-day is bowed 
before in profound adoration. See to it, that re- 
ligion prospers in your families, foster that religion 
which alone can make happy fathers, exemplary 
mothers, virtuous and affectionate children, good and 
useful citizens. 



RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT, 



Part II 

General Washington called religion and morality 
the " two great pillars of human happiness/' and the 
" firmest props of the duties of men and citizens," that 
reason and experience both forbid us to expect that 
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious 
principle. Therefore, to swerve from religion is to 
endanger the life of a nation. 

Survey the state of society to-day, and it won't re- 
quire a very acute mind to see into what depths we 
could fall if the hand of religion was removed from 
supporting us, without it there is no honesty in the 
mart, nor would there be justice in the tribunal. 
Without honesty and justice to pilot us we see trusts 
suspected of commercial tyranny, and the tribunals 
appointed to investigate the causes of the disease be- 
come tainted with the disease and unveil their own 
venality, the virus was contagious and they are spat- 
tered all over with the fetid pus, dissolution sets in 
and companies dissolve, and both promoters and venal 
legislators curse from behind prison bars. 

If a nation ignores God, ceases to worship Him, 
laughs at His laws, the horizon of that nation instead 
of being succeeded by a splendor of meridian bril- 

79 



8o 



The Messiah's Message 



liancy, it will become retrograde, and dissolve into a 
terrifying darkness. Suppose all the people of the 
United States were atheists, the poor would be fools 
if they would not murder you to have your property. 
Their minds would be ever active to elude the police- 
man. Everyone would be a burglar, if an oppor- 
tunity presented itself where he could escape the 
meshes of the law, he would appropriate his neighbors' 
money. 

Can the state govern society without religion? Is 
temporal power strong enough to repress opposition 
from a people who have no religion, a people who 
make the senses and earthly enjoyment the end of all 
knowledge, so that matter becomes at once the source, 
the means, and the end of all philosophy. I say em- 
phatically no. Civilization may polish the surface of 
society, but it requires a stronger and a holier prin- 
ciple to restrain its corruptions. If you teach a people 
to ignore God; if you teach a people that there is no 
hereafter, and that the present is the end of all things; 
that morality, duty, faith are words of vague import; 
that morality is the palate by whose smack we judge of 
the utility or the inutility of actions; that this world 
of ours is a thing of chance; to force and matter all 
things are reducible, that nature is the ever active prin- 
ciple that energizes everything; if this be the gospel of 
the state, then justice and judgment will be swallowed 
up in the blind gulfs of sensualism, and we would be 
living on the thin crust of a moral earthquake, a crust 
that would soon crack and cause a social overthrow. 
This is a gospel that the mind of man would easily 



Religious Sentiment 



81 



embrace, because it removes all moral check and re- 
straint from the indulgence of our lower passions. 

Theologians teach that law is a moral rule existing 
in the mind, but there is no mind, no intelligence, nor 
will in nature, therefore it could not be the seat of 
those laws. Material things are passive in the hands 
of God, as they are passive in the hands of man. It is 
their nature to be passive, and to move as they are 
moved. All motion has its origin in the will of some 
spiritual being; no other explanation of its existence 
is possible. God is the Prime Mover of all things. 
The law of movement is in God ; the order and meas- 
ure of that movement is in the unconscious creature. 
Now when we look no higher than nature for the laws 
that give order, regularity, measure, and mutual de- 
pendence to its elements we ascribe to that insensible 
nature what belongs to God. When we ascribe laws 
to material nature, we transfer the exalted honor of 
law, the attribute of intelligence, from God to uncon- 
scious matter. When, therefore, a people is inoculated 
with this materialistic doctrine, when religion is eradi- 
cated from the mind, and unbelief holds its place, if 
man is devolved from a piece of carbon combined with 
other ingredients, if man sprung from the earth as a 
grain of wheat develops after it is placed in the ground 
by the sower, if man's highest ideals are no more than 
the sublimated mud of a protoplasm, if religion is only 
a bugbear to frighten women and children, if such doc- 
trines were accepted by the masses, then the awful 
truth would appear in hell fire, life would become un- 
bearable and the unguent that soothes deep grief and 



82 



The Messiah's Message 



sorest trials could no longer exist. A blight-produc- 
ing plague must visit a people where this drivel of pre- 
tending science takes root which is no more than a 
clumsy hypothesis. Skepticism, irreverence, indif- 
ference must grip the minds of the youth when they 
hear such doctrines by those votaries of natural 
science, and pave the way for more brutalizing effects 
than the basest theogonies of ancient paganism. If 
the masses professed such a creed, liberty, bravery, 
courage, and everything noble in man, purity, de- 
votedness, and elevation of spirit in women would be 
substituted by debauchery, brutality, and crime. This 
is a natural consequence. Because if there be no God, 
no responsibility, no spirituality, no hereafter, if man 
be only an expanded protoplasm, why should we attach 
any blame to our fellowmen for squeezing as much 
pleasure out of life as they possibly can, why should 
they not indulge in criminal lusts which give them the 
most pleasure. Such belief would make society a 
swine trough, and human barriers would be insufficient 
to govern the people. 

I will now appeal to English and French history for 
facts to substantiate this truth, that the decay of 
faith is accompanied with the decay of morals and 
rectitude, and when this decay is set in the people be- 
come ungovernable. I will quote two unquestionable 
authorities with reference to religious sentiment in 
England during the nineteenth century. Gregg says 
in his work " Rocks Ahead," " Very large propor- 
tion, probably the majority, of the operative class in 
towns, are total unbelievers; and these are not the 



Religious Sentiment 



83 



reckless and disreputable, but, on the contrary, con- 
sist of the best of the skilled workmen, the most 
instructed and thoughtful, as well as the steadiest. 
The hard-headed, industrious engineers and foremen, 
the members of mechanics' institutes, the natural 
leaders of the artisans, are skeptics intellectually, not 
morally; they disbelieve because they have inquired, 
argued and observed, and have not been able to obtain 
from their Methodist fellow-workmen, or even from 
their ministers of the gospel, satisfactory answers to 
their doubts. Among manufacturing artisans and the 
highest description of citizen laborer, it may be stated, 
with even more confidence than of the ranks above 
them in the social scale, that the intellect of this 
body is already divorced from the prevalent creeds of 
the country. The range and form of this skepticism 
varies widely in the different classes. Among work- 
ingmen it is for the most part absolutely atheism, and 
is complicated by a marked feeling of antagonism to- 
wards the teachers of religion, a kind of resentment 
growing out of the conviction that they have been 
systematically deluded by those who ought to have 
enlightened them. Thinkers of the higher order 
among the educated classes, and more especially 
scientific men, by no means as a rule, go so far as 
this, but content themselves with pronouncing God to 
be unknowable, and His existence unprovable ; the dis- 
tinctive doctrines of Christianity, and the details of 
its historical basis, neither made out nor in any way 
admissible, and a future life to be a matter of mere 
speculation, which may or may not be in store for us, 



8 4 



The Messiah's Message 



but as to which no rational man would dare to dog- 
matize. Literary men and scholars are often skepti- 
cal merely as to special creeds, though sincerely and 
deeply religious in tone and temperament But all 
concur in repudiating existing forms of Christianity; 
that is, the common religion of the nation, the 
Jehovah of the Bible, the hell and heaven of the 
divines and priests, the resurrection of the gospels, and 
the salvation — formulas and creeds of churches/' 

A writer in the magazine, The Month, says, " The 
advance of infidelity among a large portion of the 
generation now entering or having entered upon the 
full enjoyment and use of life, has reached the line 
at which even morality becomes a sentiment rather 
than a law ; conscience a phenomenon rather than the 
voice of God sitting in judgment; free-will and re- 
sponsibility an imagination; the universe a physical 
system self-evolved and self-regulated; the soul of 
man mechanism; the future of man a blank; sin, 
original and actual, a fiction; atonement an impossi- 
ble superstition." Now what was the condition of 
England during this time? I will quote an extract 
from a speech of the Bishop of Salford which I find 
in a lecture of Archbishop Vaughan: "During the 
five years ending 1824 there were 65,000 cases of 
crime recorded; but during a like period ending 1874 
there were no less than 408,000 of such cases ; or, in 
other words, crime had increased sixfold during the 
last half century, while the population had but doubled. 
Taking more recent dates, say from i860 to 1874 
assault had increased 36 per cent., breaches of peace 



Religious Sentiment 



85 



124 per cent.; damage to property 69 per cent.; mis- 
demeanor 37 per cent. ; prostitution 36 per cent. ; de- 
sertion of families 75 per cent.; larceny 64 per cent.; 
drunkenness 110 per cent.; people having no visible 
means of support 73 per cent., and all this while 
population has only increased 18 per cent." Such was 
the moral and spiritual corruption of man. 

When impiety sharpened her tongue against God 
in that awful tempest which howled at the close of the 
eighteenth century in France, and which was a scourge 
sent forth by an offended Deity to chastise and purify 
a wicked people, we have an incontestable proof that 
it is futile to attempt to govern a people from whose 
minds belief in God has been obliterated. 

France having reached the summit of prosperity and 
glory under the paternal government of a long suc- 
cession of good monarchs, she at length grew weary 
of her happiness and fidelity. She lent too credu- 
lous an ear to false prophets and seducers. Fash- 
ionable unbelief and the easy morals of the splendid 
age of Louis the XIV produced a luxuriant crop of 
authors who perpetuated their errors in writings re- 
markable for attractive grace and classic elegance of 
style. Materialistic philosophers, encouraged by the 
debauchery of a depraved court, proceeded fearlessly 
to carry out their designs by outraging religion and 
undermining the principles of faith and morals; of 
such men were Bayle, Voltaire, D'Alembert, Diderot, 
Rousseau, all working each in his own way for the 
utter annihilation of religion. It was Diderot who 
said, that if he were in need of a rope to hang the 



86 



The Messiah's Message 



last king, he would make it out of the entrails of 
the last priest. In these very words of Diderot we 
hear the portentous rumblings of that approaching 
earthquake which soon upheaved both altar and 
throne and overthrew the most sacred institutions of 
France in chaotic ruin. 

A new generation of scholars educated under such 
masters, and having hardly any religious knowledge, 
and certainly destitute of all religious habit and de- 
votional feeling, had gone forth from the colleges to 
become active members of society. By their teaching 
truth had been crushed out of men's minds to give room 
to rationalistic philosophy, and to unfounded preju- 
dices, accordingly the impiety which had hitherto 
been confined to the inhabitants of the city, began to 
find its way into the provinces, and to permeate the 
rural populations; the consequence was, loyalty to 
God became a subject of derisive mockery. 

The principles of negation continued more and more 
to develop themselves in a thousand different chan- 
nels ramifying from the same source, till they had 
become absorbed in that general abandonment of 
belief, to which the way had already been paved by 
a coextensive corruption of morality. The lower 
classes had no hope of betterment from the iron rule 
of their materialistic rulers, and their own belief 
leaving them destitute of any divine help, unrayed 
upon by the faintest glimmer of faith, and unwarmed 
by the least scintillation from the high altar of heaven, 
dashed with wild fury into the most abominable ex- 
cesses. Recognizing no rights in others, and out- 



Religious Sentiment 



87 



raging what every honest man held to be sacred, they 
pretended they were desirous of making all equal, when 
their only purpose was to bend the necks of others 
beneath their own yoke. The promised liberty and 
equality were nowhere to be found except on the bat- 
tlefield, on the scaffold and in the grave; and the 
boasted fraternity, which was to bind all mankind in 
one common family, consisted in a bond of common 
hatred of all the human race except themselves. 

Perversion of morals follows the perversion of the 
intellect. Vice and virtue were ascertained to be 
mere conventionalisms, they were the hallowed names 
of Utility and Inutility. Whatever is virtuous is 
only so because it is useful, everything else is im- 
posture and fabrication. With this gospel to guide 
the people naturally a deep and inveterate corruption 
developed itself in all ranks of society, from the 
throne to the cottage. The immoral life of the king 
lowered the standards of the age, and exhibited in his 
person an example of unfeeling selfishness and un- 
blushing debauchery. So notorious was his de- 
bauchery, that upon one occasion, when some children 
had been kidnaped from Paris, a rumor was circu- 
lated that they had been carried away to furnish 
materials for a bath of human blood to the monarch, 
in order to invigorate his body wasted by excesses. 
The morals of the nobility also partook of the gen- 
eral taint. The French literature of the period was 
extremely licentious. The leading writers in France, 
just before the revolution, appear to have been almost 
studiously anxious to scatter indelicacies through their 



88 



The Messiah's Message 



pages. Life was like an enchanted vision, but behind 
the deceptive scene the guillotine was silent rearing 
its bloody head. God was forgotten, a film covered 
the wounds of the state, giving the appearance of 
health, while corruption was spreading unseen. In- 
fidelity seated at the tables of the rich proclaimed a 
glorious advent was nigh when the miseries of human- 
ity would disappear. It was in this den and glitter 
of prostitution that liberty was nurtured in France, 
and it could not have a cradle more impure. In blood 
was the tree of liberty planted. It grew, watered by 
the tears of misery, its fruits were full of rotten- 
ness, whilst its leaves shed pestilence and death all 
around. 

The press poisoned the public mind by attributing 
every motive that was malicious and degrading to the 
then governing power in the state, it pandered to the 
passions and thirst of the mob for human blood. 
Mirabeau held that the Catholic Church and freedom 
were mutually incompatible; away then with the 
Church! Triellard asserted that the convent was the 
abode of tyranny, the prison of sorrowing hearts suf- 
fering in silence; away then with the priests! Mon- 
archy was merely a form consisting of one supreme 
head, and a privileged class to protect him from the 
mob who paid taxes to support him; away then with 
the Monarchy! The privileged class living sumptu- 
ously, felt not the soul-piercing cry of tyranny, nor 
the maddening famine and wretchedness of the starv- 
ing wife and little ones, and the thousand and one 
agonizing scourges of the poor, moreover it lived in 



'Religious Sentiment 



8 9 



an atmosphere of unreined licentiousness; away there- 
fore with the privileged class ! The cauldron of crime 
and corruption was increasing in temperature by each 
fresh application of inflammable matter, and only 
awaited something more to be added to boil over. 
On the ninth of August, 1792, the signal was given 
by the bells from their steeples pealing their death- 
knell notes. What a fearful night. It was a car- 
nival of crime, outlawry and butchery, and yells of 
exultant joy hailed this wide-spread carnage. Hor- 
rible the hour when man's soul in its paroxysm of rage 
spurns asunder the barriers of righteousness. Bolts 
jingle and prison doors are burst open, the priests are 
dragged from their homes and hurled from their cells 
to be hewn asunder; corpses pile one upon another, 
and the gutters run red with blood. Oh, what a fear- 
ful night, listen to the yells of men and the shrieks 
of women, yells wearying down to low growls; the 
brave are not spared, nor the beautiful, nor the weak. 
When morning dawned, the palace of the King was 
surrounded by a lawless mob, the King was seized and 
rushed to prison and afterwards beheaded. The mas- 
sacre continued for three days while about five thou- 
sand victims sank beneath its violence. The savage 
passions of these men overpowered every principle of 
reason and humanity, and while glorying in having 
destroyed the fetters of despotism, they proved them- 
selves to be the abject slaves of sin, cruelty and cor- 
ruption. 

The torrent of the revolution commenced to swell. 

Brutal armies swept like demons of destruction over 

7 



90 



The Messiah's Message 



hill and dale trampling the harvests of the husband- 
man, burning villages, bombarding cities, and throwing 
shot and shells into nurseries where mothers, 
maidens, and infants, cowered in the agony of terror. 
Christianity was declared to be of a purely human 
invention; accordingly by the decree of 1792 uni- 
versal toleration was granted to every form of wor- 
ship except Christianity; the churches were then pro- 
faned, pillaged, and turned into temples of reason. 
The existence of God was publicly denied; the Sab- 
bath was abolished, and every tenth day was named 
for the purpose of relaxation and festivity. The last 
resting place of the dead was violated, and a notice 
was placed at the entrance bearing this inscription 
"Death is but a perpetual sleep." It was thus im- 
piously hoped that the very name of Christianity, 
would, in time, be blotted from the remembrance of 
the nations of the earth. As the revolution pro- 
ceeded, atheism and irreligion assumed a bolder front. 
The bells of the churches were melted into cannon; 
the spires of the churches were in many cases leveled, 
because they violated the republican principle of 
equality, by rising above other edifices. The sacred 
vessels were melted down and coined into money to 
replenish the national treasury; the crosses were 
wrenched from their places and thrown into the river 
while infidelity wagged its head in exultation, and 
shrieked aloud, lo ! see how Christianity passeth away. 
" It is not enough to destroy the body, but let us crush 
the wretch," meaning Jesus Christ. 

The crowning exhibition of impiety was still to fol- 



Religious Sentiment 



9i 



low. Two miserable men named Chaumette and 
Herbert, members of the municipality of Paris, one 
day at the head of a procession, to which history 
has no parallel, waited on the convention. A number 
of young females walked before another female mys- 
teriously veiled and clothed in azure garments. This 
personage having been led forward with great cere- 
mony, Chaumette announced to the assembly that the 
time had arrived when men should cease to fear a 
supreme Being, and he now introduced in the goddess 
of reason, an object more worthy of their homage, 
" Fall, O veil of Reason, before this venerable as- 
sembly " ; as he uttered these words, he drew aside 
the veil, and revealed to their gaze the features of 
a woman of infamous character. The Goddess of 
Reason was embraced by the President and after- 
wards conducted to the ancient cathedral of Notre 
Dame and placed upon the altar with the crucifix under 
her feet, and there enthroned as the object of national 
worship. Amidst this wild scene of disorder and 
drunken licentiousness an unknown voice exclaimed 
aloud, " O God, Thou wilt yet be avenged." 

The divine vengeance most justly fell on the per- 
petrators of this fearful insult to the majesty of 
heaven, and vindicated the wisdom of God's govern- 
ment, and proves how sin becomes the instrument of 
its own punishment. Crime must find an inevitable 
meed not to be explained but on the principle of divine 
retribution. There never was an age in the history 
of the world in which retributive justice was so swift 
to overtake the authors of crime as this, and the most 



92 



The Messiah's Message 



remarkable feature of their downfall and punishment 
is that these were brought about by the same agents 
that had contributed to their elevation. 

The constitutional and monarchial party first fell. 
The Girondists, who had brought about that fall, 
next perished. The anarchial faction, too, after an 
apparent victory over all its opponents, shared in 
the dreadful rite. The impious promoters of the god- 
dess of reason tasted the bitter consequences of their 
crimes. The Duke of Orleans, who sat in the con- 
vention under the name of Phillip of Equality was 
beheaded, on the sixth of November, 1793. Marat was 
stabbed by a young maid while in his bath. Danton, 
who rushed many to death without a trial, was con- 
demned without a hearing; he fell by the iniquitous 
tribunal which he himself had formed. Robespierre, 
who was styled " The envoy of God " was among the 
last of the victims, as he was lead to prison, the mob 
howling like dogs from hell, a woman sprang on the 
car which conveyed him to the guillotine, and, wav- 
ing her hand over him exclaimed, " Murderer of my 
kindred, thy death makes me rejoice, descend to the 
grave, laden with the reproaches of every wife and 
mother of France." One of the guards looking at 
the miserable man exclaimed with emotion, " Yes, 
Robespierre, there is a God." Upon the fall of the 
instrument of death, a shout of exultation was raised 
by the spectators, a shout that reechoed all over 
France. Misery rolled like a torrent all over France. 
Noble and peasant, the virtuous and the vicious, the 
learned and the unlearned were dragged to the guillo- 



Religious Sentiment 



93 



tine like cattle to the shambles. After the execution 
of Robespierre, Lacointre ascending the tribune of the 
hall of the convention, courageously exclaimed " that 
a people without a religion, without a worship, and 
without a church, is a people without a country, and 
without a morality, destined eventually to sink to a 
condition of slaves, that contempt of religion had been 
the ruin of the French Monarchy, and would be the 
ruin of every people whose legislation is not founded 
on the unchangeable principles of morality and reli- 
gion." Where, therefore, are there in history 
stronger facts than those presented to us by the 
French revolution, to prove to us, that civil authority 
in rebelling against religion forfeits its strongest safe- 
guard against the rebellion of its own subjects. The 
normal condition of Christian society is that religion 
and the State be intimately united, that each shall use 
its appropriate weapons against turbulence and license. 
But if the two powers are in a state of not mutual 
harmony, but of mutual distrust, turbulence and 
license must be expected to assume fearful propor- 
tions. Reverence, therefore, is the civil ruler's great- 
est security for the stability of his power. 



RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT 



Part III 

Everything around us is an eloquent sermon of the 
presence of the Deity, from the drop of water which 
refreshes organic nature to the great ocean which re- 
flects back the sunlight sheen of the midnight stars 
in grandeur and loveliness, from the pure pale leaves 
that sip the dew to the majestic forest tree, each and 
all form a school where the reflective minds of men 
have grand lessons to learn of their omnipotent Crea- 
tor. And the more we labor with the chemist in his 
cell, the deeper we descend with the geologist through 
the strata of the earth, the higher we ascend with the 
astronomer, the stronger do we forge the chain that 
binds us to our Creator. But man being an intelli- 
gent being expresses his relationship not like the 
tongueless flower, but in a manner becoming his 
position among created beings; he voices his recog- 
nition of his Infinite Maker in the form of a ritual 
worship which we call religion. 

Around the altar of sacrifice in sublime acts of 
adoration we acknowledge the supreme dominion of 
the Deity over us, and our total dependence upon Him, 
and there in those sweet communings we hear the 
echoes of those unspeakable moanings and songs of 

94 



'Religious Sentiment 



95 



exile reverberating from the abode of our Eternal 
Father. 

The mind of man is like a fluctuating sea, never 
at rest, even success the most unbounded does not sat- 
isfy it, man weeps for more worlds to conquer. Amid 
this tumult of the mind, this everlasting restlessness of 
the soul, Faith, benign visitor, descends to man; it 
comes to him in radiant and alluring form, and ad- 
dresses him in accents of winning tenderness. Re- 
ceive me and I will say to the swelling surges of 
passion, peace be still. Receive me and I will quell 
the fever of disappointment by leading you to the 
fountains of living waters, from which when you 
drink you will thirst no longer. Receive me and I will 
lead you to an object of pursuit worthy of your origin, 
worthy of your nature, worthy of those inward 
springs of which you are proudly and painfully con- 
scious; the object to which I will direct you is the 
Infinite. 

And do we not see this truth exemplified in the lives 
of those who adore and love their God, are they not 
frequently filled in this house of their pilgrimage, 
with prelibations of pure blessedness? Yes! religion 
lets in a ray of the most cheering light upon the dark- 
ness of the mind. He who was before a destitute 
wanderer in the inhospitable desert has now gained 
a shelter from the bitter and inclement blast of a cold 
and shelterless world. He has found a supreme 
Being to whom he can unbosom his sorrows, and from 
whom he can look for relief. In our worldly pursuits 
we are ever in dread of a cessation of hope, expecta- 



9 6 



The Messiah's Message 



tion, and effort, but when imbued with religion, we 
fear not if our hopes are counted by our disappoint- 
ments, for we look farther than the boundary of what 
is limited. If your heart bleeds from some wound of 
recent misfortune, nothing is of equal efficacy with 
religious comfort, it has power to enlighten the dark- 
est hour of life, to assuage the severest woes. Its 
grandest ornament is charity, it inculcates nothing but 
love and sympathy of affection. It is that invaluable 
gem that shines brightest in adversity. When the 
cheerless hand of sorrow is placed upon our brow it 
solaces us, its magic influence calms the ruffled 
senses of life, and makes them glide peacefully away. 
Oh! sweet religion thou dost smooth the mind in its 
last hours; it removes the sharp sting of death, and 
gives assurances of the passport of the soul to an end- 
less life of happiness and bliss. 

When the French revolution dethroned the God of 
heaven, and a god molded from the clay of passion 
usurped His place, the lower ranks were sunk in the 
deepest irreligion and the grossest sensuality. The 
deification of man oppressed and degraded more and 
more the unregenerate. These were days when 
blasphemous social apostasy from God and virtue 
recalled the wildest times of paganism. Here the 
most brutal indifference to all religious sentiment was 
manifest, here vice appeared in all its hideous turpi- 
tude, here the family ties were disregarded, here all 
the impious and anarchial secret societies were inces- 
santly warring against social order, but what a change 
suddenly takes place in these slums of iniquity owing 



Religious Sentiment 



97 



to the fact that a few lay students founded a society 
under the patronage of St. Vincent de Paul, and bound 
themselves to visit these hovels of crime and effect a 
moral reform of these families, and after revealing to 
their benighted understanding the truths of religion, 
they lifted them out of the depths of moral destitu- 
tion. 

It is religion that makes life a discipline of good- 
ness, creates new hopes when all earthly ones vanish. 
It is religion that calls up beauty and divinity from 
corruption and decay. It is religion that makes an 
instrument of torture and shame the ladder of ascent 
to imperishable joy. It is religion that above all com- 
binations of earthly beauty, calls up the most delight- 
ful visions, the gardens of the blessed, the security of 
everlasting joys, where the skeptic and the sensualist 
view only gloom, decay and annihilation. Yes! reli- 
gion enters the hut of the poor and sits down with 
them and teaches them contentment in the midst of 
privation. It walks through cities, and amid all their 
pomp and grandeur, their towering pride and unuttera- 
ble misery, becomes a purifying, ennobling, and re- 
deeming angel. Religion adds dignity to the noble, 
gives wisdom to the wise, and new grace to the beauti- 
ful. 

No wonder genius has raised to its honor imper- 
ishable monuments. The lawgiver bases the stability 
of his laws upon it. The inflexible logic of its apolo- 
gists chases the owlet of atheism from its dark hid- 
ing-place. Orators with resistless eloquence celebrate 
its triumphs. Poets have consecrated to it their 



9 8 



The Messiah's Message 



heaven-taught lyres. Music's golden tongue tunes 
her sweetest melodies when her theme is something 
supernatural, and by them recall the songs and har- 
monies of heaven. The chemist, the astronomer, the 
geologist have built up impregnable fortresses to pro- 
tect her truths. Sculptors give life to the unhewn 
stone and cold marble, and painters almost breathe 
a living soul into canvas, and thereby hand down to 
posterity the glories and heroes of religion. Archi- 
tecture plans magnificent cathedrals, real poems in 
stone, where her children assemble to adore their God 
and sing His praises. 

"There is but one, I know, 
That all my hourly, endless wants can meet; 
Can shield from harm, recall my wandering feet; 
My God, thy hand can feed 
And day by day can lead 

Where the sweet dreams of peace and safety flow." 

What motive sustains the Sister of Mercy in her 
life-long attendance in the hospital? What is the in- 
centive that urges the Sister of St. Vincent de Paul 
in her unremitting care of the orphan and foundling? 
Why do the Little Sisters of the Poor quest for food 
and raiment for the aged and helpless, console the 
weeping and the afflicted and dry the tears of the dis- 
tressed ? It is alone for Him whose image they bear. 
Upon whose breast could they repose their aching 
hearts if God was not there? It is here the unbeliever 
is forced to halt and stand in wondering admiration 
at these devoted souls as they minister to his fellow- 
man. Women who shear themselves of all the bril- 



Religious Sentiment 



99 



liancy and gayety of the world, who cut adrift every 
possible bond that could bind them to earthly pleas- 
ures; women who throw aside the world's winsome 
livery of tinsel and glitter, and robe themselves in a 
coarse garment; women of refinement, social rank 
and beauty, sweet and amiable in character, sever 
themselves from all friends and worldly friendship, 
see them in all countries among men whom infirmi- 
ties and vice have reduced to objects of loathing and 
disgust, not engaged alone in softening the pain of 
their ulcerous sores, but breathing into their very 
souls the language of heaven to soothe its deep and 
rankling wounds. And what is the cause of these sac- 
rifices; why destroy oneself for love of mankind, why 
raise the edifice of love on the ruins of self-love, why 
build an altar for the immolation of their own inter- 
ests, is it for the love of their fellowman alone? 
Certainly not, these actions are moved by a higher 
motive than mere philanthrophy, it is charity, it is 
religion, it is God alone that could inspire such holy 
work. He who said, " That which thou doest unto 
the least of these my brethren, thou doest unto me." 

When the soul of an unbeliever looks into the grave 
and gazes on the remains of his child whom he loved 
on earth, who can pencil the martyrdom of that 
father's mind as he beholds the lips conglutinated in 
the slime of dissolution, the eyes that once laughed 
now sunk in eternal night? Every lineament steeped 
in the noisome mildew of the grave meets his 
eye as he bends over the wreck of all his cherished 
hopes. He gazes and gazes on the figure of his child 



ioo The Messiah's Message 



now lapsing with awful rapidity into decay, he 
wrings his hands in despair and cries out, " Where 
art thou, my child? " He listens, but no echo of an 
answer reaches him from the dark shore beyond. 
He closes his eyes that he might not again look upon 
the revelations of that charnel house and breaks away 
in frantic paroxysms of despair. Ah ! what a differ- 
ent scene for those whose souls are sanctified with 
religion, whose minds are raised above that grave, and 
looking towards heaven peer into the future. With 
those souls between religion and death there exists a 
harmonious relation. Gradually as the soul ap- 
proaches the tomb a faint light raises and dissipates 
the darkness of error and fear as a mist is driven away 
before the rays of the morning sun. It yearns that 
the fetters which chained it to the body would be 
shaken off, and free from the clutch of death it could 
fly to the embrace of God. Philosophers and atheists 
who lived denying the existence of God and scoffed 
at religion, were heard to exclaim in their plaintive 
agony their belief in and express longings for the 
solace and comfort of religion. The voice of the 
Deity sounded in their ears as the trumpet of the 
angel of death blew its thrilling notes. Is it not a 
comfort to think that even then when the book of 
life is about to be closed error and prejudice are 
erased from its leaves, and God descends to soothe 
and comfort, and soften the pain of the dying, to 
cheer and console them, rays of light streak their 
way from heaven, drive away the gruesome night of 



'Religious 'Sentiment 



101 



sin and falsehood, and light up the soul on its way to 
eternity ? 

Here is a fitting place to introduce the memorable 
words of Napoleon on this very subject. " Upon the 
throne surrounded by Generals far from being devout, 
— yes, I will not deny it — I had too much regard for 
public opinion, and far too much timidity. I did 
not dare to say aloud, I am a believer. But even 
then, if anyone had questioned me directly, I should 
have replied, ' Yes, I am a believer. I am a Christian ' ; 
and if it had been necessary to profess my faith at 
the cost of martyrdom, I should have found firmness. 
Yes, I should have endured it rather than deny my 
religion. But I am now here, all alone, why should 
I dissemble that which I believe at the bottom of my 
heart? Here I am for myself. I wish a priest. I 
desire the communion and to confess what I believe. 
I will go to Mass. . . . Divine effects compel me 
to believe in a divine cause. There exists an in- 
finite being compared with whom, you, General 
Bertrand, are but an atom, and I with all my genius, 
truly nothing. I perceive God. I have need of Him. 
I believe in Him. If you do not, so much the worse 
for you. I can pardon many things, but I have a 
horror of an atheist or a materialist. Think you I 
can have any sympathy with one who does not believe 
in the existence of the soul, who believes he is a lump 
of clay, and who wishes that I may be like him, a 
lump of clay also? I know men, and I tell you, Gen- 
eral Bertrand, Jesus Christ was not a man. Super- 



The Messiah's Message 



ficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the 
founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. 
That resemblance does not exist. There is between 
Christianity and every other religion the distance of 
infinity. I see in Lycurgus, Numa, Mahomet, only 
legislators, but I see nothing that reveals divinity. I 
recognize the gods and these great men as beings like 
myself. There are numerous resemblances, passions, 
errors which ally them to me and humanity. It is 
not so with Christ. Everything in Him astonishes me. 
His spirit overawes and His will confounds me. Be- 
tween Him and everyone else there is no possible com- 
parison. He is truly a Being by Himself. His birth 
and the history of His life, the profundity of His 
doctrine, His Gospel, His apparition, His march 
across the ages and realms, all are to me a prodigy, 
mystery insoluble, a mystery I cannot explain. In 
every other existence but that of Christ how many 
imperfections, where is the individual who has not 
been vanquished by obstacles, who has not been gov- 
erned by circumstances, who has never compounded 
with any customs or passions save Christ! From 
the first to the last He is the same, always majestic 
and simple, infinitely firm and infinitely gentle. 

" His religion is a revelation from an intelligence 
which is certainly not that of man. Jesus borrowed 
nothing from our sciences. One can find absolutely 
nowhere but in Him alone the example of His life. 
You may speak of Csesar, Alexander, and their con- 
quests, and of the enthusiasm they enkindled in their 
followers, but can you conceive of a dead man making 



Religious Sentiment 103 

conquests with an army faithful and utterly devoted 
to His memory? My armies have forgotten me, even 
while living, as the Carthaginians forgot Hannibal. A 
single battle crushes us and adversity scatters our 
friends. Can you conceive of Caesar from the depths 
of his mausoleum governing the empire, and watch- 
ing over the destinies of Rome ? But such is the power 
of the God of the Christians. Such is the perpetual 
miracle of the progress of the faith. Nations pass 
away, thrones crumble, but Christ remains, His church 
remains. What then is this power which has pro- 
tected the church? Where is the arm which for 
eighteen hundred years has shielded it from so many 
storms that threatened to engulf it? What a proof 
of the divinity of Christ that, with an empire so large, 
so absolute He has but one end — the spiritual 
amelioration of individuals, the purity of conscience, 
the holiness of the soul; He lights up the flame of a 
love which consumes self-love — Charity — which 
prevails over every other passion. Now that I am 
chained to this rock, who fights and wins empires for 
me, where are my friends? Such is the fate of great 
men. So with Caesar, so with Alexander, and I too. 
The name of a conqueror becomes a college theme; 
our exploits are tasks given to pupils by their teachers, 
who sit in judgment awarding us blame or praise. 
Behold the destiny, near at hand, of the Great 
Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery 
and the eternal reign of Christ, which is proclaimed, 
loved, adored, and which is extending over all the 
earth. ,, 



104 



The Messiah's Message 



On the fifteenth day of June, 1801, a Concordat 
was signed with the Pope and in an eloquent procla- 
mation Napoleon announced the fact to the French 
people, declaring that " an insane policy has sought, 
during the Revolution, to smother religious sentiment 
under the ruins of the altar, under the ashes of reli- 
gion itself. At its voice all those pious solemnities 
ceased in which citizens called each other by the en- 
dearing name of brother, and acknowledged their 
equality in the sight of heaven. The dying, left alone 
in their agonies, no longer heard that consoling voice 
which calls the Christian to a better world. God Him- 
self seemed exiled from the face of nature. Let the 
morality so pure, so brotherly, you profess unite you 
all in love for country and respect for its laws, and 
above all, never permit disputes on doctrinal points 
to weaken that universal charity which religion incul- 
cates and commands." 



CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 

Christ was born during the reign of Augustus 
Caesar. The Augustan era was a classical age when 
man's intellect shone with dazzling splendor. Previ- 
ous to this, and in those days there were matchless 
philosophers, historians, orators and poets. It was 
an age of gigantic vices as well as gigantic intellects. 
The searchlight of the Nazarene's gospel had not yet 
been turned on the wide territory enveloped in pagan 
darkness, — the darkest night of idolatry still pre- 
vailed. The colossal minds of the great philosophers 
of these days were still groping their way in search of 
some solution to explain the great enigma of life. One 
of the seven wise men of Greece said, " Learn to know 
thyself." The saying was so prized by the other 
philosophers, and received with such unbounded ap- 
plause that each made it the object of his profound 
research, believing it to be the foundation of all moral 
philosophy. But while some with haughty flattery 
elevated him to the throne of a divinity, others by 
vituperative abasement lowered him to the position 
of brutes. While some placed in his breast a spark 
from heaven in lieu of a soul, others said his soul 
was an electric atom of earth. While some recog- 
nized him as the outcome of some whimsical clash of 
chance, others maintained him to be an organic frac- 

105 



106 The Messiah's Message 

tion of the universe. When, even, Plato forgot for 
a moment some of his speculations and defined man 
to be a two-legged animal without feathers, Diogenes, 
a cynic of those days, one day presented to him his 
man in the shape of a plucked fowl. This was the 
way the philosophers of old philosophized on human 
nature, either by flattering man's vanity, or insulting 
his miseries. 

Should we blame these great minds of old for this 
wrangling among themselves when attempting to 
solve the great problem, man? Certainly not, because 
man's own character presents a great difficulty to those 
who wish to study him; he is an enigma that cannot 
be solved by the most clear-sighted intellect. There 
is a deity in marine mythology called Proteus which 
has the peculiar characteristic of changing its natural 
form at every instant; well, man is a second Proteus, 
for he is continually changing his natural disposition 
into different shapes and forms so as to frustrate every 
one of those who attempt to analyze him. Some- 
times we see in him a luminous trace indicating an 
original greatness and an immortal destiny, at another 
time a brutal instinct degrades him and he sinks to 
the lowest depths. From one part he manifests a, 
mind of most noble thought, a heart capable of the 
sublimest affection, a desire full of hunger for un- 
earthly things, a soul boundless, greater than all the 
goods of the earth. But on the other hand what ob- 
ject is there that cannot mold him as a piece of wax, 
or make him the puppet of each passing passion ? A 
mere nothing draws him and repulses him, a mere 



Christ and His Church 



107 



nothing encourages him and deters him, a mere noth- 
ing cheers him and depresses him, a mere nothing 
consoles him and afflicts him. Each impulse makes 
him more fragile than a flying feather, more flexible 
than the reed agitated by the wind. This continual 
alternating of contrary tendencies raises him and de- 
presses him, misfortune dismays him and he sinks 
into despondency, he pays homage to virtue and he 
abandons himself to vice, miserable and vain, weak 
and presumptuous, master and slave of oneself he is 
a mysterious mixture of light and darkness, of body 
and spirit, of vileness and greatness; accordingly this 
being, man, who by the vastness of his desires seems 
greater than all things created becomes by the frivolity 
of his attachments the most mean of all things. 

With such contradictory dispositions we must not 
wonder at even the gigantic intellects of the ancient 
philosophers clashing with each other and their efforts 
being abortive, their attempts futile, to solve the na- 
ture of man. And as man must have an idol to adore 
we must not feel surprised that the whole world sank 
in an idolatrous religion when the dull light of reason, 
unguided, was left to itself to define the great question 
of man's origin and destination. This religious idol- 
atry was bound up with the most ennobling recollec- 
tions, consecrated by patriotism, eulogized by elo- 
quence, sanctified by philosophy, and embalmed by 
poetry. The empire of paganism with its queenly 
capital, Rome, was the cesspool into which were dis- 
charged the villanies of the whole world, where every 
form of superstition no matter how profligate could 



io8 The Messiah's Message 



celebrate its mysteries with impunity. Everything in 
public and private life, domestic and rural economy, 
the days of the week, the months and seasons of the 
year, springs, rivers, groves and mountains were un- 
der the tutelage of the gods, and the necessity of this 
tutelage was sedulously impressed upon the mind of 
the people. Every street and forum was studded with 
shrines and altars and thronged with sorcerers and 
charlatans. The inferior and slave castes were held 
in profound ignorance by a hardened and selfish as- 
cendency who kept within their narrow circle the 
monopoly of all knowledge and of all power. Owing, 
however, to the teaching of great men like Plato and 
Socrates the keen sighted and inquisitive of the de- 
mocracy commenced to see the absurdities of poly- 
theism, and hear the echoes of skepticism from the 
wrangling of the schools. Plato said " to know 
man " we had need of a superhuman master. He 
alone could unravel the tangled skein of his strange 
contradictions. In those words we obtain a glimpse 
of those streaks of the brightening dawn that presage 
the glowing day of truth. If some men in those days 
by the aid of reason recognized maxims of morality 
they imprisoned them within themselves instead of 
announcing them for the practical guidance of the peo- 
ple on the way of rectitude. And whenever they did 
make them public they choked them in obstruse theo- 
ries as to be passed by unrecognized by the people 
who, little caring for subtle and fastidious science, 
abandoned themselves to the prey of prevarication. 
Notwithstanding that these pagan superstitions were 



Christ and His Church 109 

crumbling fast, polytheism still seemed to have as 
great a charm as ever, but what had been resorted to 
before as an awful worship was now frequented as a 
pastime and as a convenient cloak and opportunity for 
the most rampant licentiousness. 

It is easy now to forecast what rule directed the ac- 
tions of man in those days when there was no sub- 
lime teacher, life became one protracted trance of 
rapture, a prey to the wilder passions. , So darkened 
was the light of natural rectitude that the corrupt af- 
fections of man's heart were attributed to deities who 
were adored as the personification of vice. There was 
no vice or passion in the heart of man that had not 
an altar, a guardian, a model. Jupiter was wor- 
shiped as the god of profligacy, Venus as the god of 
impurity, Bacchus as the god of intemperance, Mer- 
cury as the god of roguery, Mars as the god of strife. 
Thus it was that everything had conspired to prepare 
the way for the doctrine of Epicurus that sought to 
account for nature by the force that is inherent in the 
atom. Epicurus taught that death was an imaginary 
evil, the term of consciousness, the beginning of an 
endless sleep and therefore it was the summit of true 
wisdom for man not to waste his life nor torment his 
intellect in bootless fears or hopes about an imaginary 
hereafter, but to seize the passing hour and by every 
species of pleasure attainable to try and make a heaven 
on earth. Accordingly Venus was adored and the 
son of Semele with his bacchanals ran riot in every 
direction. These were the doctrines which the high 
priest of concupiscence lectured under the enervating 



no 



The Messiah's Message 



despotism of the Caesars. What was the result of this 
teaching, when no thought of the future, none of the 
grim realities of existence were suffered to intrude? 
Honesty sunk in the mart, justice forsook the tri- 
bunal, skill left the arts, discipline society, and life 
had scarcely dawned when it hastened to decrepitude. 
Such was the inky darkness of the world when the 
star of Bethlehem appeared. Oh, how sordid and 
odious the sty was into which Christ had to enter to 
purify! These outpourings of a delirium revealed to 
Him those depths of sin into which nature had fallen 
from the eminence it occupied before the fall. How- 
ever, into this cesspool of wantonness, into this forest 
of howling monsters, upon this ocean of fathomless 
iniquity the meek Christ embarked, and in each wild 
caprice of the passions He studied the symptoms of 
the malady He had been sent to cure. 

Such was the rottenness of humanity when the ra- 
diant figure of Jesus appeared to reform it. Abbe 
Picard asks, " Who then is this Jesus to whom the 
civilized world owes so much to-day ? " I will use his 
language with very little alteration. What is He who 
from the Jewish people and from their system of 
monotheism, so narrow and so little known, drew 
forth the grand Christian monotheism vast as the 
world and holding sway over the whole civilized 
world? What is this Jesus, who, from His sepulcher 
cast the Capitoline Jupiter into the tomb, and who by 
His cross has overthrown all these ingenious fables 
in which Ancient Greece, so refined, so learned, so 
scornful, took her delight? Who is this man of heav- 



Christ and His Church 



in 



enly piety, of incomparable gentleness, of unbounded 
and unprecedented charity, who has raised up friends, 
and also foes irreconcilable even unto death, whose 
person is the object of a worship or of a hatred unique 
in its kind? All men who think deeply admire Him, 
all who believe adore Him, all who suffer appeal to 
Him, all who would overcome evil invoke Him, the 
remainder, that is, all who do not know Him are 
hurried along the fatal path of vice, impotency and 
darkness. Who then is He? Was He only a simple 
Jew, crucified by a Roman governor in a subjugated 
territory, without earthly power, without renown or 
earthly grandeur? And yet down to the present day 
this crucified man reigns supreme over the whole 
world. 

The world has never seen such a combination of 
moral beauty and perfection as it sees in Jesus Christ. 
Suspicion has* not dared to sully with its breath the 
character of the hated Nazarene. Neither the Jews 
who rejected Him, nor the other adversaries of Chris- 
tianity have ever succeeded in bringing a serious ac- 
cusation against Him. When a net of mean malevo- 
lent plots were tightening around Him, He threw 
down a challenge, " What man of you can charge me 
with sin ? " Several such personages, struck by His 
superhuman virtues, have rendered Him the most 
splendid homage. " I find no cause in Him to con- 
demn Him to death," says Pilate. " I have betrayed 
innocent blood," was the despairing cry of Judas. 
"Indeed this was a just man!" exclaimed the cen- 
turion, who stood at the foot of the cross. " But this 



112 



The Messiah's Message 



man had done no evil," declared the good thief on the 
cross. 

Never had man loved other men as Jesus loved 
them. He had tears for the afflicted, succor for the 
necessitous. Like a mother bird He cries out again 
and again, and spreads out His wings to protect His 
brood. He loves His disciples and bears with pa- 
tience their slowness of comprehension and inaptitude 
for their high mission. One of them betrays Him 
and He continues to love him. Another denies Him 
and He turns on him a look that pierces his heart. 
He loves the people, for two of His disciples entreat 
Him to call down fire from heaven on two cities 
which had refused to hear Him and He replies, " I 
am come to save men and not to destroy them." The 
Pharisees tried to induce Him to pronounce sentence 
of death upon an adulterous woman and He replies, 
" Let him among you who is without sin cast the first 
stone at her," and when the Pharisees slunk away 
and left Him alone with her, immensity of mercy 
confronting immensity of misery, He asks, " Woman, 
who are thy accusers ? " and she answers, " No man, 
Lord." " Neither do I accuse thee, go and sin no 
more." All His acts of benevolence were real virtue, 
the pure gold of love. 

His tastes were simple; He had no settled home 
of His own, He was at home everywhere, by day in 
the streets and squares, by night under the open sky, 
or in the caves or under the trees, when no compas- 
sionate people gave Him shelter. He eats with Laza- 
rus or a Pharisee to-day, and to-morrow He is in the 



Christ and His Church 113 

desert with a crowd of people and they have only a 
few loaves, the next day He is on the highroad with 
His disciples in the noonday heat, without a morsel 
of bread to eat, so that His disciples begin to rub the 
ears of corn to obtain the grain. His clothing was 
scant — at Bethlehem He had a few swaddling clothes, 
at Calvary we see His garments enumerated. He 
had no money in His pocket, not even enough to pay 
His temple tax. His inexhaustible riches lie in His 
poverty. He had no cradle at His birth and no grave 
of His own when He died ; even His body was con- 
fiscated and put under seal. What He said to the 
Scribe came to pass, " The foxes have their dens, and 
the birds their nests, but the Son of man has no place 
to put His head." 

Among the many notable characteristics of Christ's 
preaching His zeal is especially remarkable. He did 
not confine Himself to the Synagogue; we hear of 
Him on the mountainside as well as in the towns, 
on the seashore as well as in the desert. He makes a 
pulpit of anything from a well to a boat. He never 
troubles about the number or class of His hearers. 
He does not quarrel or dispute with His opponents 
nor base His teaching on subtleties as did the schools 
of the day. He makes use of everything as a subject 
for His discourses, the lilies, the birds, life and cus- 
toms. He decides with clearness and authority. He 
does not interpret the law, but lays it down. The 
whole domain of truth, natural and supernatural, lay 
before Him and from this He built up His marvelous 
discourses of the natural and supernatural as a clear 



ii4 



The Messiah's Message 



artificer combines with dexterous hand the various 
threads in one gay texture of many colors. Thus 
were fabricated those magnificent parables. With the 
natural ease of a spring gushing forth, and the grace 
of a sower scattering his grains of seed our Saviour 
cast abroad the golden seed of His doctrine, and that 
doctrine transmitted from age to age has regenerated 
souls and renovated society. Such teaching, how- 
ever, did not fail to * meet with success. Everyone 
felt that there was something in it, something extraor- 
dinary about it. The people followed Him in crowds, 
thronged and pressed around Him; there was a mag- 
netism about Him that was inexplicable, they forgot 
food and home to listen to His words. His person- 
ality had a wondrous charm about it, His affability 
and benevolence attracted crowds. The tremendous 
power of His wisdom and eloquence, together with the 
fearlessness and force with which He exposed and 
stigmatized their incorrigible wickedness, was one of 
the very reasons that drove them to take extreme 
measures against Him. Even though the greater 
part of the unhappy people perished in their unbelief, 
that did not prevent the success of His teaching. The 
gospel He had preached passed over from the Jews 
to the Gentiles, and the Christian civilization of the 
world and the salvation of the human race is and re- 
mains the result of the teaching of Jesus Christ. 

Our Saviour was bound to confirm His doctrine by 
miracles, because this had been foretold of the Mes- 
siah by the prophets, because this was the only means 
of making so many people of such different disposi- 



Christ and His Church 115 

tions believe in Him. This, then, was the first object 
of His miracles. Miracles were the simplest, short- 
est, and surest way to make people believe in Him. 
All other proofs require time, observation, and talent, 
and even then they are not convincing. Supernatural 
truths which cannot be proved by reason are best con- 
firmed by supernatural deeds and miracles. Thus 
God shows Himself to be the author of the natural 
and supernatural, of the visible and the invisible. 
Wherever a miracle is worked in proof of a truth, 
there is God's hand to be seen. Thus a miracle, a 
divine proof of power over visible nature, is a certifi- 
cate which everyone understands and which admits 
of no contradiction. The people understood this at 
once and therefore they cried out, " What is this new 
doctrine, for with power He commandeth even the 
unclean spirits?" There was no part of creation in 
which the power of Christ did not give evidence of 
His glorious supremacy. His miracles extended to 
all kingdoms. He is master of the impenetrable 
bodies through which He passes; of the substances 
which He changes; of the diseases He cures; of the 
hearts which He penetrates and softens ; and of death 
which He changes into life. He accomplishes all 
these prodigies, not as one sent, but by His own power. 
He is man, it is true, but He is born of a virgin. He 
eats, but, when it pleases Him, He does without nat- 
ural food. He sleeps, but while sleeping He prevents 
the boat from sinking. He walks upon the sea and 
its waters become as solid rock beneath His feet. He 
dies, but in dying He causes all nature to tremble. 



Ii6 The Messiah's Message 

His miracles, says Abbe Picard, are not simple em- 
broidery on the tissue of the evangelical history, they 
form part of the tissue itself. " I am the light of the 
world," He says, and He opens the eyes of the blind. 
" I am the bread of life," and twice He multiplies 
bread. " I am the resurrection and life," and He re- 
stores and He raises the dead to life. He curses 
trees and they wither up as an impressive warning of 
the judgment that awaits unbelief. Amid His pov- 
erty and lowliness His miracles shine out like flashes 
of lightning over all forms of life. The greater part 
of the people seeing His wonderful deeds were led to 
the conviction that He was a prophet and sent by 
God, but they did not generally recognize Him as the 
Son of God. The Jews had too superficial and 
worldly a conception of the Messiah and therefore did 
not believe in His divinity. They could recognize 
Him as the Messiah from the prophecies and the mira- 
cles, and their consciences must have urged them to 
believe in Him, but their passions stifled the voice of 
conscience. Let us now see the result of His teach- 
ing, the results which no human philosophy could ever 
produce. 

" In this period of the world," says Schegle, " in 
this decisive crisis between ancient and modern 
times, in this great central point of history stood two 
powers opposed to each other. On the one hand we 
behold the Roman Emperors, the earthly gods and ab- 
solute masters of the world in all the pomp and splen- 
dor of ancient paganism standing on the summit and 
the verge of the world tottering to its ruin. And on 



Christ and His Church 



117 



the other hand we trace the obscure rise of an almost 
imperceptible point of light, from which the modern 
world was to spring, and whose further progress and 
full development through all succeeding ages consti- 
tute the true purport of modern history." 

Twelve poor illiterate men, rough in speech, of ob- 
scure origin, boldly challenged the religion of the 
Caesars. The eagles of pagan Rome screamed wildly 
at their daring, but the dove of the tabernacle soon 
put them to flight. Simon a fisherman, Matthew a 
publican, others humble boatmen from Nazareth took 
up the religion of their divine Master, a religion full 
of mystery and rigid morality. These are the men 
who undertook to dethrone Jupiter. Stupendous 
weakness hurls itself against the greatest power then 
in the world, the infant Church of Christ on one side 
and paganism on the other. Her task was colossal, 
but she never doubted of her triumph, because when 
imposture is unmasked, its doom is sealed, the pas- 
sions may rally around it and redouble their efforts to 
sustain its tottering ascendency, but down it must 
come. Yes, the task was gigantic. What the Church 
had to extirpate was so interwoven with every transac- 
tion, thought, and institution that went to make up 
the whole of pagan life, that to remove it meant un- 
raveling and rending to pieces the entire tissue, weft 
and woof, of private, public, and intellectual life. But 
as St. John Chrysostom says, " And such also is the 
instinct of bees, for they settle not only on the sweet, 
but also on the bitter flowers, and the sweetness they 
extract and the bitterness they eschew, and from qual- 



n8 



The Messiah's Message 



ities the most contrary they prepare sweetest honey 
for man. These the Apostles imitated ; from fields of 
philosophy so full of bitterness they provided the 
sweet honey of salvation for man." Before entering 
on their wonderful mission they were specially pre- 
pared for their work by the Holy Ghost. In the 
whole history of revelation there is nothing so marvel- 
ous as the transformation of the Apostles and the dis- 
ciples after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them. 
Before the possession of the Holy Ghost these men 
were dull almost to blindness, but after the descent 
of the Holy Spirit they saw as when a great light is 
flashed on material darkness. Before the descent of 
the Holy Ghost they were ignorant, but after the de- 
scent they astonished those who heard them speak, 
they were considered enlightened sages. Before the 
Pentecostal fires descended they were weak and cow- 
ardly, but when these fires commenced to burn they be- 
came ignited with a martial fire that made them dar- 
ing, bold, and brave. Before the Spirit of heaven 
visited them, they were lazy, indolent, unsympathetic, 
and cold, but when this heavenly Guest tenanted their 
souls, they became diligent, loving, and full of a 
warmth that was not earthly or cheerless. In Geth- 
semane they fled from their divine Master, and aban- 
doned Him, but now they were ready to abandon 
everything for Him. With fear and trembling they 
hid themselves when Jesus was draining the chalice 
of ignominy in Pilate's Hall, but now they were ready 
to defend Him even unto death, and did so later on 
with the courage of true soldiers of Christ. In a 



Christ and His Church 



119 



word the Holy Ghost transformed the Apostles and 
the Apostles transformed the world. When Christ 
was living in the world the world spat at Him, but 
now that He is not here the world believes in Him and 
adores Him. When Christ was preaching the word 
of life on earth they would not listen to Him, but now 
they listen to His gospel. The world crucified Him 
and now it adores Him whom it crucified. Is not 
this transformation matchless and miraculous? The 
power of Christ in His discourses was adapted so as 
to reach and touch each soul at the point where it was 
most vulnerable, and where it most needed relief. 
There was light for the ignorant, and the unraveling 
of entanglements for the perplexed, there was courage 
for the timid, and strength for those too weak to cast 
off their chains of sin, reproof for the haughty, com- 
fort for the mourner, peace for the troubled, and re- 
freshment for the .weary. When the Apostles com- 
menced to speak after Pentecost, their words reached 
the ears of the strangers from so many various lands, 
that each one understood them for himself in his own 
tongue. And such to-day is the power of God even 
in the mouths of the weakest of the ministers of His 
Church. 

The Apostles preached the doctrines of Jesus of 
Nazareth, showed that He was the way, the truth, and 
the life, the Saviour of the world. By degrees er- 
roneous theories were put down, the phantoms of 
paganism dissipated, the worship of false gods con- 
futed, and that iniquity of all sorts of profanation 
which a diligent superstition amassed was destroyed. 



120 



The Messiah's Message 



They hurled themselves against ignorance and impos- 
ture, and battered to pieces every wall of separation, 
and united not only Greek, Roman, Jew and barbarian 
together, but slave and citizen, helot and aristocrat in 
one common brotherhood and league of fraternal char- 
ity. They warred against everything that attempted 
to blight humanity. They never afflicted anguish ex- 
cept to effect a cure. They provided an education 
that lead men from poisoned wells where their pas- 
sions were inebriated, to purer fountains. They 
struck to the ground the fetters of the slaves and 
preached equity between man and man. They taught 
obedience to those who were subjects, and had a word 
of warning to those who are on high that there is one 
still higher, and commanded charity to all. Woman, 
our divine Master told us to tell thee that you must 
be exalted to an eminence so august as to render your 
influence the corrective of that brutality of which you 
have been heretofore the instigation and the slave. 
He commanded us to hallow the connubial state and 
maintain its indissolubility, and thereby make the do- 
mestic circle a miniature of the church, a preparatory 
school for heaven. Their doctrine had a solace for 
every affliction, an expiation for every trespass, and 
it took even from death its sting. 

As Christ came to His own and His own received 
Him not, and when He went about doing good they 
said that He had a devil in Him, and called Him a 
blasphemer, so in like manner were His disciples 
treated. They were pursued from the very first as the 
infant Saviour was by Herod. The murderers of 



Christ and His Church 121 

man's felicity with all the allied powers, pride, lust, 
and selfishness had an instinctive presentiment that 
the teaching of the Apostles was destined for their dis- 
comfiture. Consequently they were up in arms 
against it. The unregenerate world foams and 
rails at the spirit of Christ's doctrine like the demo- 
niacal boy at the sight of our Lord when He descended 
from the mountain. His presence was distasteful, 
was uncongenial, for He was the evil spirit's rebuking 
Master. That same Master's teaching was and is just 
as distasteful, for its stings to the very quick and con- 
sequently the world hates it with a withering hatred. 
When, therefore, we preach that the world is a se- 
ducer we must not expect love in return ; when we ad- 
vise penitence we irritate it ; when we even clothe our- 
selves in the livery of the church we are denounced 
as showmen clad in tinsel magnificence ; when we sug- 
gest a code to direct correct living we are called 
tyrants; when we reprove the prodigal we are said 
to be interfering with man's liberty. The Church 
lives in the world as the eucalyptus tree lives in 
swamps, planted there to neutralize the malarial at- 
mosphere that rises and hangs around the stagnant 
pools of decaying nature. The Church in assailing 
idolatry exasperated and drew down the entire weight 
of Roman vengeance. It sought to crush it in its 
cradle, and when disappointed it ceased not to pursue 
it and persecute it. The followers of Christ were 
hunted from the face of the earth as a race of mis- 
creants, no place was left them but the dark caverns 
of the earth, and even in the catacombs, these crypts 

9 



122 



The Messiah's Message 



of everlasting gloom and sepulchral silence, they were 
not secure against the inroads of persecution. No 
day passed without its tragedy of blood. The hatchet 
of the lictor fell upon the brow wreathed to offer sac- 
rifice, the bowstring interrupted the half-uttered vows 
of many a votary. The whole weight of the Roman 
Empire had been accumulated to crush and extinguish 
the teaching of Christ. Stroke after stroke fell upon 
its head and members. Its limbs were torn and 
hacked to pieces, and strewed as feasts for dogs and 
ravens. 

The Apostles were persecuted by every official au- 
thority, proscribed as the greatest criminals and cast 
out as the scum of the earth. I preach Christ cruci- 
fied, cried St. John, as they threw him into a cask of 
boiling oil. I preach Christ crucified, exclaimed St. 
Paul, as they severed his head from his body. I 
preach Christ crucified, cried St. Peter and St. An- 
drew as they nailed them to crosses. I preach Christ 
crucified, said St. Bartholomew as they burnt him. I 
preach Christ crucified, said St. James as they hurled 
him from the pinnacle of the temple. So went on 
the trail of blood and martyrdom, and so went on, too, 
the grand train of their heroic successors preaching 
the folly of the pagan theogonies and the divinity, of 
their divine Master, and sealing their testimony with 
their blood. The first twenty-two popes suffered mar- 
tyrdom, and historians estimate that about three mil- 
lions of the faithful were put to death. Christians 
were mowed down, but reinforcements were more 
numerous than their losses. The Coliseum, that im- 



Christ and His Church 



123 



mense chalice of blood, overflowed time after time 
with Christian blood. " The prayers, the patience, 
the calmness," says St. Augustine, " which accom- 
panied their death made the Princes ashamed of the 
laws that condemned them." Of all the manifesta- 
tions of Christian courage martyrdom was a puzzle to 
the pagans. They could understand the gladiators 
shouting at the foot of the Imperial balcony, " Hail, 
Caesar ! we on our way to death salute thee." " But 
they could not understand the hymns of the martyrs 
to Christ, the supreme reverence shown to an invisible 
God, the calmness with which they met death, the fear- 
lessness on the threshold of the world beyond, the 
faith already changed to sight," those unspeakable 
songs of exile choked with the hot tears of love and 
blood, that their union with their God was so long 
deferred. The shrewd and refined Greek, the sober 
and sedate Roman said, " These men are sincere," and 
consequently accepted a religion which demanded from 
them great sacrifices, a complete reform of their moral 
code. " On the exhausted furrows of the pagan 
world the new doctrine deposited the germs of resur- 
rection," and in time the tiny grain of mustard seed 
grew into a tree. Truth triumphed over falsehood. 
The Cross, the symbol of the Crucified, took the place 
of the proud Roman eagle. 

" For three hundred years the streets of that proud 
Roman city of paganism had been watered with the 
blood of martyrs, and the catacombs beneath peopled 
with their bones, and as day by day the Sacrifice of 
Redemption was offered over their relics, a Christian 



124 The Messiah's Message 



people was formed in those recesses which now had 
come forth into the light of day. Paganism still lin- 
gered like a gigantic specter in the morning dawn, 
but now it was a thing of the past and about to leave 
its palaces to the successors of the fisherman." Its 
doom was sealed. The Imperial Power was dying 
fast. Yes, that mighty conflict has taken place be- 
tween all that was powerful and all that was weakest, 
between wisdom and foolishness, between the poor 
bare-footed fisherman from Bethsaida and his succes- 
sors on one side and the successors of Augustus 
Caesar on the other side with the united forces of the 
world. And what have these mighty efforts to destroy 
the Church come to ? They have only served to prove 
its indestructibility, to augment the luster of its tri- 
umphs, and to disable and shatter the empire of pagan- 
ism; and when the diadem and scepter of the Caesars 
lay broken on the tomb of Peter and Paul, wave after 
wave of persecution struck the rock upon which Christ 
built His Church only to be shattered in futile at- 
tempts of destruction against her peerless form. 

Like eagles lured to a field of carnage, the Goths, 
the Huns, and Vandals were lured from their forest 
homes by the scent of the dying empire, and falling 
upon its mighty frame tore its limbs to pieces. By 
this means they were brought as neophites to the thres- 
hold of the Church and prepared for conversion. 
Gradually they became tamed of their ferociousness by 
contact with Christianity. The Hun changed his war- 
song for a penitential psalm, the Vandal had learned 
to glow with charity, the Goth had laid down his 



Christ and His Church 



125 



quiver for the cross, and Imperial Rome, once the 
charnel of paganism, now became the sanctuary of 
the Crucified. 

Yes! these same men without human aid have suc- 
ceeded to overthrow not only Judaism but also pagan- 
ism, which had on its side wealth, science, power, the 
attractions and allurements of a morality favorable 
to the passions and pandering to man's lower appe- 
tites. They succeeded in causing a repentant world 
to prostrate itself at the feet of a supposed criminal 
put to death on an ignominious cross. They per- 
suaded an infinite number of men to renounce what 
they believed and practiced up to that time, and to 
adopt a religion that presented to the mind unfathom- 
able mysteries, and to the will a morality conflicting 
with all the instincts of sensual nature. If Chris- 
tianity was a myth, do you think that millions would 
sacrifice their lives for a myth ? The very ungarnished 
simplicity of their faith in Christ was a proof of their 
sincerity. 

Will you explain to me how the doctrine of Christ, 
so contrary to the interests of the passions of the age, 
in fact subversive of every teaching then extant, at- 
tracted so many followers, how it filled up its ranks 
from the most contrary dispositions, from the skepti- 
cal Roman, the scoffing Greek, the exasperated Jew, 
and accomplished this in such a short time after the 
death of Christ? It cannot be explained unless we 
have recourse to the fountain of the mysterious and the 
miraculous. If Jesus was only man, how can we ac- 
count for His teaching revolutionizing the whole 



126 The Messiah's Message 



world, and still holding sway over the minds and hearts 
of men. Jesus was considered such a vile malefac- 
tor that they crucified Him; still His doctrine swept 
from the face of the world all those false gods before 
whom the world bowed down, and now, after nearly 
two thousand years have elapsed, when the days that 
commemorate His birth and resurrection come round 
in the cycle of time the world pauses, uncovers its 
head and adores. 

With regard to the moral code of laws that should 
guide man in his varied avocations of life, we have 
men to-day fearlessly professing from the chairs of 
science a course of ethics that is as corrupt as it is 
startling. They strive to upheave the foundations 
of the ancient faith and revolutionize thought and 
life. They draw up a decalogue that is both con- 
fused and confusing, and if some don't do away with 
God altogether they cast Him from His throne and 
ask Him to take a back seat; the intellect of man, ac- 
cording to these, must get first place. In the emanci- 
pation and fruition of modern thought, they say, 
greater works than those of Christ will be performed. 
The wondrous deeds of Christ are a great stumbling- 
block to these intellectual pigmies. They cannot deny 
them, neither can they explain them scientifically, and 
they cannot do such portentous deeds themselves. So 
far we never heard of their clients or adherents giving 
sight to the born-blind, nor has science ever resusci- 
tated a man rotten in his grave. Yes, these miracles 
of Jesus are inaccessible heights that block their 
boasted scientific progress, mountains whose snow- 



Christ and His Church 127 



white peaks cannot be reached, and when they look at 
their heavenly loftiness they exclaim, " They are not 
real, but only a mental mirage." 

It is not God, they say, but science, custom, exi- 
gencies, that command us not to steal, not to commit 
murder, to have one wife or many. There are no 
God-given commandments. They maintain that 
neither right nor wrong exist, that such things are 
merely the self-interested inventions of the great ones 
of the world. Notions of right and wrong are 
adopted as a result of custom and training, are formed 
by society. Morality is not an offense against God, 
it is an act to be judged according to the conception 
that society gives it. So taught paganism of old) 
Jupiter and Venus were worshiped as the gods of 
profligacy and impurity. Thus is the doctrine of 
paganism dressed in a new garment and proclaimed 
aloud to be observed by our youth of the twentieth 
century. Crime, according to materialistic science, is 
merely the result of cerebral deformity or constitu- 
tional vice. The robber and the assassin are irre- 
sponsible, and therefore, interesting victims of cir- 
cumstances. Civil and commercial relations rest 
upon a tacit consent that everyone struggling for 
existence is authorized to deceive his neighbor as 
much as he can. Without lying and perjury we 
are bound to succumb in the warfare of material 
interests. 

If this should be the standard to guide our lives 
why should we not arm ourselves as strong as possi- 
ble for the fray, fling away honesty as an encum- 



128 The Messiah's Message 



brance, and prefer to succeed by vice rather than fail 
through the practice of virtue ! 

If virtue has no fundamental law, if conscience 
is a false guide, if there be no such thing as crime, no 
merit and no demerit, the social edifice ought to be 
completely destroyed, and everyone abandon himself 
to the fury of his natural inclinations. 

These sophistries subversive of the rights of prop- 
erty, of family ties, and of the whole social constitu- 
tion are dangerous and pernicious. They flatter and 
legitimize the bad passions which ferment within the 
breast of the multitude. The longing for fresh pleas- 
ures and for immediate gratification is an unquench- 
able thirst which corrupts every human heart. Were 
it publicly proclaimed that man's natural instincts are 
to him the one and only moral law, every protection 
would be carried away, and we would become wit- 
nesses and victims of untold horrors. Released from 
the control of duty, men would be but strugglers of 
life. I have no hesitation in saying, that if this code 
of ethics was adopted by society, there is no reason 
why poverty should not steal, no reason why the dag- 
ger, the gun, should not be used at one's pleasure, 
no reason why life should not become one protracted 
trance of rapture. No rein should curb our passions, 
but should indulge them with that zest and uncir- 
cumscribed limit which would make man not superior 
but inferior to the brute creation. 

These men teach us to ignore the religion of Christ, 
or that of the prophets of old, as it is an invention 
to dragoon us to follow an adopted plan. Religion, 



Christ and His Church 



129 



they say, is not a product of heaven, but a product of 
the brain. It is a mental intoxication and is arrayed 
against progress; while other departments of thought 
have been reduced to science, religion has been tol- 
erated to go on developing preposterous dreams. 
These men ask us to look upon them as the Aristotles, 
the Platos, the Socrates of this progressive century. 
We have true scientists in Sir Isaac Newton, Ampere, 
Pasteur, and the like who were not alone theists but 
also sincere Christians. They have not sought from 
natural science that which it could not impart, viz., 
the secret of nature's author, but their belief in God, 
as the Creator and Disposer of all things, urged them 
to seek in the world laws more simple and compre- 
hensible. So far from there being any contradiction 
between the developments of science and the religious 
beliefs of these men, faith was their most helpful as- 
sistant in their highly fruitful researches. The great 
problem of man remained to them undiscoverable by 
scientific investigations, and must ever remain obscure 
to unaided reason. 

When Lazarus came out of his grave at the com- 
manding voice of Christ, the Scribes and Pharisees 
cried out, " Crucify Him." When the Church of 
Christ raises her voice to lift humanity from the 
sepulcher of rottenness to a high standard of life, the 
University scribe proclaims aloud, " Crucify her." It 
is the teaching office of Christ, the proclamation of 
His doctrine and His law that makes the world angry. 
It is Christ's priestly office that the world rejects, be- 
cause it upbraids her with her sins and reminds her 



130 



The Messiah's Message 



of the mediation of Jesus Christ for her salvation. 
When the Church speaks of chastity and judgment 
the world shudders, and will not submit. When 
priests are martyred, their enemies are not aiming to 
crush this or that individual, but it is at that which 
he represents the blow is meant to kill, hence the war, 
the enmity, is against Christ when persecution rages 
against the Church. The blows fall on the adminis- 
trators in the Church, the Church itself they cannot 
touch, — it is not a piece of wood or stone, or human 
flesh; what save a body can be laid hold of and 
bound? One can no more fetter the spirit, faith, 
grace, or authority than one can seize and bind the 
light. The strokes of persecution only benefit her, 
for the more you shake a flower full of seed the more 
you propagate that flower. As the storm-wind scatters 
the seeds, so persecutions scatter the seeds of the 
Church. 

There is another feature in our history to-day that 
likens our times to those of pagan days. In religious 
Jerusalem the multiplication of sects distorted the true 
character of the Messiah. In pagan Rome polythe- 
ism, or multiplication of gods distorted the true mean- 
ing of God, and to-day in Christian countries the 
multiplication of sects is distorting the true character 
of Christianity. 

Jesus Christ said, "If I be lifted up from the earth 
I will draw all the world to Myself. ,, He has been 
lifted up, and He has lifted the world and held it in 
His bleeding arms. He has transformed the world. 
From His sepulcher He has hurled the Capitoline 



Christ and His Church 



Jupiter into the tomb. Before Christ came no re- 
ligion, no philosophy had given to the world what He 
gave. Through Him the laws of the world have 
been transformed. To Jesus Christ and His Church 
we owe the highest perception of God, the purest 
moral, and the most perfect model. Suckled at her 
breast, we know more than the luminaries of Rome 
and Athens. Our origin, when and how we had a 
beginning, are no insoluble enigmas with us. 

By His doctrine He has overthrown all these in- 
genious fables in which ancient Greece took her de- 
light. He tells us to set a guard not merely at the 
gates of our senses, but even at the entrance of our 
hearts. It enjoined self-sacrifice instead of that lux- 
ury, and that love of pleasure which was enervating 
society, and loved and adored everywhere. Evangel- 
ical morality is the highest creation which has issued 
from the conscience of man, and is the first code of 
perfect life. The moral law of Jesus Christ is of in- 
comparable beauty. It is the regenerator of souls 
and the renovator of society. 

His doctrine demanded that the law which gave the 
rich the right to make chattels of the poor slave 
should give place to the reign of charity which made 
the master the friend of the slave; the man of wealth 
the steward of the gifts of God, and the sovereign the 
servant and not the tyrant of the people. A new 
world, says Abbe Picard, has sprung out of the sep- 
ulcher of Christ; it was conceived beneath the tree of 
the Cross. It recognizes no distinction between 
Greek and Scythian, and sends forth through the 



132 



The Messiah's Message 



clouds of human passion the softening rays of her 
influence to dispel prejudice and melt down hearts 
grown hard with hate. The pagans, lovers of beauty 
and art, did not love the poor, the wretched or the 
lowly. But the apostles of Christ seek the poor in 
squalid dens and filthy prisons, they smooth the uneasy 
pillow of sickness, reclaim the wanderings of mad- 
ness, and breathe into the ears of the dying immortal 
hopes and consolations of faith. Others reform vice, 
and by the majesty of religion overawe reprobate 
wickedness. Rome in pagan days took pride in her 
Vestal virgins, but look at the world to-day and see 
the thousands of virgins who made a funeral pyre of 
the world's tinseled livery, and are now spreading 
their snow-white wings over the wastrels of humanity 
and deserted orphan. Did infidelity ever produce a 
soul like St. Vincent de Paul? Did science ever give 
us from its molds a soul like St. Teresa, St. Am- 
brose, or St. Louis? When they accuse us of want 
of sympathy for our fellow man, we point to our 
asylums for the poor, the decrepit, the blind, the 
deaf and dumb, the orphan and the homeless. When 
they accuse us of want of sympathy for the brawny 
arm and sweated brow of labor that drop in sweat 
the very blood of the soul to amass the wealth of the 
few, let them read Pope Leo's encyclical on labor, and 
hear our pulpits ring with the gospel of our divine 
Founder, " What is over give it in alms." If ever a 
blush of shame should crimson the cheek of man, it is 
when we read the history of man's tyranny over his 
fellow man in the days of slavedom. What picture 



Christ and His Church 



133 



is more awful and degrading than to see husband torn 
from spouse, children from mothers to whom they 
clung with nature's love, and then hurried to be sold as 
beasts of burden in the public market. Irrespective 
of cold, heat, or sex they were stripped of their 
clothes, and harnessed to toil under the lash until 
their bones are exposed by galling sores, then hud- 
dled together in sleeping dungeons to the violation of 
all moral dictates. Who broke those chains of slav- 
ery, and restored the equilibrium between man and his 
fellow man ? Christ's gospel. 

If those who accuse the Church as a bar to 
progress and liberty, believe that true liberty and 
progress consist in a liberty to vitiate those sacrosanct 
laws which prohibit us from indulging our lower pas- 
sions, then we agree with them that the Catholic 
Church is an enemy to that liberty which is not true 
liberty but thraldom and slavery. It is those false ac- 
cusers who are the highway robbers of liberty, who 
by undoing the couplings attempt to run the car of 
progress to wreck and ruin. Amidst the blinding 
storm of persecution we can catch at intervals the 
fitful glimmerings of the torch of Catholic science now 
and then escaping through the chinks of caverned 
rocks and other hiding-places, where aged priests lin- 
gered about to teach the poor persecuted children of 
the land. This was how the Church preserved learn- 
ing when persecuting legislation sealed up the doors 
of every college and convent school. Yet we are told 
that she is acting as a break on the chariot- wheel of 
progress. 



134 The Messiah's Message 



The whole history of her life is a font from which 
genius draws her pearly streams. Truth has been her 
chart and compass pointing the one true course over 
the darksome waters of existence to the secure blessed 
haven of eternal happiness; before the glare of that 
truth the foul mists of bigotry and prejudice must 
fly as the sea-fog before the freshening breeze. 

It is true the Church is not completely sheltered by 
the cross from all defilement; the thorns by the way- 
side tear the seamless robe with which Christ has 
clothed her. The truths of the Church may some- 
times be blotched through the infirmities of human 
nature, but this is common to all things. Why should 
the Church be an exception? Yes, it does happen to 
the Church but only with those things that are not 
essential to her life; in this sense the Church is like 
all other institutions and must share the fate of 
earthly things. The human body of our Lord suf- 
fered pain, and His soul was sorrowful even unto 
death; it is not strange then that His Spouse, the 
Church, should be prevented, through the wickedness 
of her children, from exercising that authority to 
which she is entitled by her character. Kingdoms, 
once devoted to her, have now renounced their alle- 
giance to her, but she was not the loser. Christian 
Europe was shivered to fragments by her rebellious 
children, but it was not as bad as that to which her 
divine Founder submitted, it will be only the signal 
of her exultation as it was of His. He suffered a 
most ignominious death, but He rose again glorious 
and immortal ; so will His Church. She puts off that 



Christ and His Church 



135 



which is liable to corruption and continues for ever 
arrayed in that which is essential to her life. As the 
true Body of Christ is indestructible and imperisha- 
ble, so also the Church is indestructible and un- 
changeable, she cannot suffer interior dissolution nor 
yet be removed by an extraneous power. The tree, 
in which the sap still rises, and whose fruit still comes 
to perfection, has lost many a fair branch lopped off 
and now lies withered, molding away fast, but the 
heart beats as vigorous as ever, the head remains un- 
scathed, the gangrene that could not reach the nobler 
parts was confined to the lower and inferior parts. 
Let us not then despond when the scales of the fight 
tremble, and the issue seems to waver in the balance; 
let us look upwards at the peace of the kingdom of 
heaven, where Christ reigns, and hear Him say, " I 
am with you." 

Erase the name of Jesus Christ from our laws, 
obliterate it from all our books, scrape it off from 
the face of every monument, and you labor in vain 
if you are foolish enough to think that you will ex- 
tinguish either Him or His Church. On mountain 
tops, in peaceful valleys, in the depths of the slums 
of the poor, on silent tombs, two small pieces of wood 
in the form of a cross will speak forever of Him. In 
the momentous hours of our lives we make the sign 
of the cross upon our breasts and upon our forehead. 
The Cross has become the badge of honor. The 
Victim of Calvary holds sway over the whole world, 
confirming His prophecy, " If I be lifted up from the 
earth I will draw the whole world to Myself," and will 



136 



The Messiah's Message 



continue to hold sway until the last wave breaks on the 
shore of eternity. 

Do we not see the Church hoisting the signal of 
alarm when the great ship of the state or society 
creaks in those raging storms of darkness and error? 
In all ages do we not see her friendly beacon-light 
pointing out that rocks are nigh? Do we not see her 
serried ranks pushing back the enemies of mankind? 
And armored within the fortress of truth she is im- 
pregnable against the encroachments of error and 
deceit. The call " To arms " has sounded in this great 
age of pampered civilization, when men are too busy 
to hear the word of God, for the word of the world 
is louder. The public is inoculated with infidelity and 
emasculated ethics, the virus is spreading through the 
system, there is danger of a general blood-poisoning. 
Do you not feel something menacing in the air? But 
do not lose courage, she solved the problems of the 
past, so will she quell those that now lie hatching in 
the womb of the future. The loftiness of her nature 
and the omnipotence of her strength are from Him 
who promised, " I will be at your side to the end of 
time." 



SIN AND REDEMPTION 

Our experience obliges us to believe that on ac- 
count of our violation of the laws of God there is 
a great deviation in human nature from order and 
rectitude. Our nature has become unsound by the 
abuse of our minds, the conduct of our wills, the 
corruption of our senses, and the immoderate use of 
our appetites. The effect produced from these abuses 
cramp the body, produce deformities and corporal de- 
fects. These defects, these deformities are trans- 
mitted to the offspring. The heavier and the sharper 
the instrument is that inflicts a wound upon our 
bodies, the deeper and the more painful is the wound. 
There is not a doubt about it that a fault when it 
is great leaves behind it a scar in the constitution and 
organism of man, and that constitutional scar is trans- 
mitted generation after generation, corrupting each 
generation as it meets it in the transmission. Sin 
can produce in him who commits it changes so great 
as to be capable of altering both physically and mor- 
ally his constitution, and though parents but transmit 
their corporal defects and dispositions, yet as the body 
is the prison of the soul and the instrument she uses 
in her thoughts, feelings and actions, the soul her- 
self suffers contraction and limitation in the exer- 
cise of her powers through her intimate union with the 

137 

10 



138 



The Messiah's Message 



body. This moral and physical deformity is, there- 
fore, transmitted to the offspring by way of genera- 
tion. 

When our first parents were created they were en- 
dowed with inestimable privileges, their flesh was sub- 
ject to their will, their will to their understanding, 
and as long as they observed the command of God, 
their hearts would remain pure and innocent, they 
would wear the white stole of grace and beauty. But 
they sinned and by their sin withdrew their faith from 
God and gave it to His enemy. They revolted 
through a spirit of pride and aspired to be as God. 
They deprived their Creator of that homage they owed 
to God, both as individuals and as the representa- 
tives of the human race, and they did this in the 
face of a divine command, and in the defiance of the 
light and grace with which they were endowed. 
When our first parents rebelled against their Creator, 
they were deprived of the reward promised to them, 
and despoiled of their privileges. Their wisdom was 
converted into ignorance, their will into weakness, and 
perpetual immunity from disease was substituted by 
sickness and death. Now like engenders like, hence 
the blindness of our understanding, the weakness of 
our will, this corruption was transmitted to their 
descendants. Reason, therefore, comes to the same 
conclusion as revelation, and considering the im- 
mense distance between the natural and the super- 
natural, the meagerness and the sterility of reason in 
illustrating this profound mystery is amply supplied 
by the fecundity of the divine revelation. 



Sin and Redemption 



139 



As the whole tree and all its branches are virtually 
contained in the root, the whole race of mankind is 
virtually contained in Adam. The question is often 
asked, " How am I a sinner when I am born ? Why 
should I be punished for the sins of others?" In 
order to have a clear understanding of the solution of 
this problem, we must keep before our minds that 
Adam, our first parent, has to be considered as Adam, 
an individual, and as Adam, a species, variety and 
unity joined in one. In like manner do we consider 
the human race which, being one by the substance 
which constitutes it, and various by the persons who 
compose it, is one and various at the same time. Also, 
each one of the individuals who compose humanity, 
being separated from the rest by what constitutes it 
an individual of the species becomes, like the human 
race, one and various at the same time. Now the 
species left Adam by generation to become separately 
constituted, but as Adam was not alone an individual 
but also a species, it necessarily follows that he was 
in the species as he was in the individual. Hence 
after the death of Adam he was still living in the 
species, and as he sinned before the separation, he 
sinned conjointly with his individual nature and with 
his collective nature, and as he is still living in the 
species he still preserves his sin. Now as collective 
Adam and human nature are one and the same thing, 
human nature is perpetually culpable, because it is per- 
petually sinful. And as human nature is in every indi- 
vidual, Adam lives perpetually in every man in what 
constitutes Adam's lasting life, Sin. Therefore when 



140 



The Messiah's Message 



we are born although we are infants, yet we are adults 
in as much as we are Adam, and are sinners. When 
Adam came from the hands of his Creator, I was in 
him, and when I came from the womb of my mother 
he was in me, and in this way I am conceived and born 
in sin. No one could have sinned like Adam, his 
sin was beyond the conception of the human mind, his 
sin was one and various at the same time, it was 
single in reality, and all sins in posse, he alone could 
stain the beauty, the order, the harmony of creation. 

Adam was the head, the heart, the voice of the 
world, that through him all the creatures beneath him 
might honor and worship their Creator, but Adam 
by his revolt defeated God's design over His creation 
at large, and brought a deterioration upon the entire 
world, for he was the fontal principle of all humanity. 
God designed that all men should be of one mind in 
His eternal Word of Truth, and of one spirit in 
His Holy Spirit, as they are of one body through prop- 
agation from one common father of their race. 
Such was the divine plan, but this union has been 
thrown into disorder through the sin of our first 
parents, who put pride in the place of charity, revolt 
in the place of obedience. This pride has not only 
separated man from God, but man from man, by 
breaking the concert of humanity after it had lost 
its harmony with God. What rents and wounds, what 
discords have been made in human nature. See the 
strifes, the wars between men, see the divisions of 
the whole human family, mind wars against mind, 
heart against heart, nation against nation, sect against 



Sin and Redemption 



141 



sect. Death came and corruption grew, and iniquity 
was bred from iniquity until it exceeded all measure, 
and humanity was insatiable of sin, perishing in soul, 
perishing in bodily corruption. Satan was riding in 
his triumphal car and proclaiming his despotic gov- 
ernment over the human race. God saw the sentence 
of death passed on human transgression gathering 
force from human corruption. He saw the great cup 
of iniquity filling up with the malice of men. Was 
He to allow what He made to His image and likeness 
to go to pieces without any hope of deliverance? 
No, it is a case of demanding a divine intervention. 
Man could not make due atonement of himself, be- 
cause the oblation would be unclean, because the in- 
nocent man ceased to exist and the sinful man re- 
mains after Adam's sin, and a sinful sacrifice would 
be an insult to God. It is a case demanding a divine 
intervention. It is a case that calls for the inter- 
vention of the firmest, the most profound, the most 
divine of moral powers. As the iniquity is human, 
it must be atoned for in a human way; but as it has 
relative infinity of guilt, as being committed against 
God, the atonement must be divine. The root of the 
evil is pride, and this must be supplanted by a new 
humility. The result was the loss of subjection to 
God, and disobedience to His voice, and these must 
be exchanged for a new submission and a new 
obedience. The inward rebellion of the will issues 
forth in the rebellion of the senses, defiling the whole 
man, and this must be rectified through suffering and 
denial. The whole man is turned from God, and 



142 The Messiah's Message 



through divine power the whole man must be turned 
anew to God. And as the human race formed one 
corporation with the fallen Adam, it shall by faith be 
incorporated with a better Adam, inseparable from 
God, from whom grace and justice shall descend as 
from the head to the members. God resolved to 
come and live among men, to take a body like man, 
for if He came in any other form the scum of putrid 
matter was so gross and thick on the eyes of the 
world that it would not see Him. But this body He 
did not take after the manner in which we take it, 
not through the intervention of man, but by the opera- 
tion of the Holy Ghost and a daughter of Adam who 
was preserved free from sin. From them and 
through them divine life entered into our human 
nature untouched by sin and by His death restored 
us to life. He bridged over the infinite distance be- 
tween His divinity and our humanity, and in this 
humanity He descended into the lowest depths of crea- 
tion where He found blindness to restore by light, 
and misery to redeem by justice. And as the sun 
which He created and placed in the heavens to give 
light and quickening influence to the earth is neither 
defiled nor obscured by earthly things whilst it en- 
lightens and purifies whatever is in the earth, much 
more did the Most Holy Word of God make Himself 
known in the Body without being defiled in the Body, 
but being free from corruption He gave life and purity 
to the Body. By becoming man He did not cease to 
be God. As the soul and body is one in man so God 
and man is one in Christ, but there is no human per- 



Sin and Redemption 



143 



son in Christ. As the body of man is united with his 
soul in one person, while the substances are distinct, 
so the humanity of Christ is united with His divinity 
in one person, whilst His two natures are distinct. 
As the body of man is the living instrument of the 
soul to do his will, so the humanity of Christ is the 
living instrument of His divine person to do His will. 
This body He delivered up to death for all men whom 
He made His brethren. The consequence was, He 
checked the hostile powers, He turned death into 
life, and restored peace by appeasing the offended 
majesty of God. He gave up His human nature to 
be crucified that, by the destruction of our mortal 
nature in Him, He might find immortal life both for 
Himself and for us : and that by suffering with Him, 
dying with Him to our old and corrupted nature, we 
might rise in Him to a new life. He atones for the 
excess of our pride with the excess of His humility. 
He atones for the excess of our disobedience by the 
excess of His obedience, and there on the Cross be- 
tween heaven and earth He reconciles both as a 
Mediator. He endures all ignominy, and sounding all 
the depths of abasement He atones for the sins of our 
bodies with the agonies of His own. What a pro- 
found mystery is the Incarnation, unsearchable in its 
elevation, unfathomable in its depths, and inexhausti- 
ble in truth and grace; He came as a consoler to the 
poor, as strength to the weak, as one desolate to those 
in desolation, as light to the darkness of intellect, as 
a Saviour to all. 

If God did not intervene when Adam prevari- 



144 The Messiah's Message 



cated, if He left him to the inevitable consequences of 
his sin, Adam's fall would have been irremediable, 
and his perdition infallible. But God did intervene, 
He condemned him and promised him a remedy. 
This remedy consisted in God approaching man and 
uniting Himself to him with a merciful bond. Penalty 
was this bond between God and man. As we all 
sinned in Adam, so are we all saved by Jesus Christ. 
" We are all in Adam because we have solidarity in 
him, and we are all in Jesus Christ in a similar way 
in as much His merits are reversible to us. By 
virtue of the dogma of imputation we all suffer 
Adam's penalty and by the virtue of the dogma of 
substitution Christ suffered for us all." The most un- 
civilized tribes, the most uncultivated peoples believed 
that the sins of some can bring down the anger of 
God on the heads of all, and all can be saved from 
the penalty due from their sin by offering a victim 
in perfect holocaust. Children are punished for the 
sins of their parents, and sometimes are saved through 
the merits of their ancestors. Even this belief is 
found in the creed of mythology. GEdipus sins, and 
the gods pour out the cup of their displeasures on 
Thebes. Here we see QEdipus to be the object of 
divine wrath, and the merits of expiation are re- 
versible to Thebes. When the Hebrew people put 
Jesus to death, they cried out, " Let His blood be 
upon us and upon our children." In these very words 
they imputed to One and chastised in Him the sins 
of all, and demanded the application of that very same 
dogma to themselves, when they said, " Let our children 



Sin and Redemption 



suffer." This dogma was from the beginning of the 
world proclaimed by the bloody sacrifices. Abel was 
the first to offer a bloody sacrifice, and it was accepta- 
ble to God as an expiatory sacrifice, an acceptable 
holocaust; and the human race after Abel's sacrifice 
believed that the pure victims placed on the smoking 
altars had a purifying effect. 

The sacrifice of Abel, as a sacrifice in general, was 
an act of devotion and adoration towards the omnipo- 
tent God; as a bloody sacrifice it was the proclama- 
tion of the dogma of the prevarication of Adam; it 
was the proclamation of sin and the penalty, with- 
out which Adam alone should be offered in sacrifice; 
it was a proclamation of the solidarity, without which 
Abel would not have inherited sin. With respect to 
God the sacrifice of Abel was an acknowledgment of 
the care He has for all human beings. If we look at 
the victims offered, it was a commemoration of the 
promise He gave of removing the penalty from the 
true culprit, and of the reversibility, by virtue of 
which those punished for the sin of Adam were to 
be saved by the merits of Another, and of the substi- 
tution, by virtue of which One who was to come 
should be offered in sacrifice for the whole human 
race. Finally, as the victims were the first-born lambs 
without spot, the sacrifice of Abel was symbolical of 
the true sacrifice in which the meek and spotless 
Lamb, the Son of God, was to be offered in holiest 
sacrifice for the sins of the world. As time rolled 
on amid the mad clash of people fighting against 
people, of great tumults and proud rebellions, of sin- 



146 The Messiah's Message 



ister cries and mad discords, amid the implacable 
rancors, endless wars and bloody battles, and all sub- 
merged in the mud of idolatry, these bloody sacri- 
fices lost to some extent their meaning, but God never 
permitted what they symbolized to be obliterated from 
the minds of the people, that they were types of a 
great sacrifice yet to come when the merits of the 
Immaculate Lamb would be reversible to us. This 
great truth is evidently clear in the selection of the 
people of the innocent victims which they crowned 
with flowers, and then sacrificed that by their death 
the divine wrath would be appeased and the debt of 
the people be paid. These sacrifices showed also the 
universality of the belief of the human race in the 
purifying efficacy of blood shed in a certain way, 
and its expiatory virtue when shed in that way. 
Without the blood shed by the Redeemer, the common 
debt the human race contracted would never have been 
paid off. I don't say that this form of redemption 
on the part of God was absolutely necessary, but that 
it was adorable and convenient. Without a Re- 
deemer whithersoever man went in vain would he 
raise his eyes to heaven, for it would be to him a 
metallic heaven, no ray of hope coming from it to 
illumine his brow. If it were possible to sacrifice 
all the angels in heaven, their sacrifice would not be 
sufficiently expiatory, or if the whole human race, 
either individually or collectively were sacrificed, its 
sacrifice would be null and void. The union of man 
and God was broken by man and that union could 
not be restored by man; it required the intervention 



Sin and Redemption 147 



of God. The restoration of universal order desired 
by God could not be realized even by the deification 
of man, hence it had to be realized by the humaniza- 
tion of God. On the cold clay of the earth with the 
canopy of heaven as a covering, with a virgin mother 
on one side and St. Joseph on the other, there lay 
He who was the Desired of nations. He who was 
to come, came, the merciful and tremendous, the 
meek and terrible. He is the solution of all problems, 
the subject of all prophecies, the prefigured of all 
figures, the end of all dogmas, the confluence of the 
human and the divine orders, the key to all secrets, 
the light of all enigmas, the promised of God, the 
expected of all patriarchs, the reverenced of heaven, 
the father of the afflicted on earth. He has the 
loftiest title of nobility the human race possesses. 
Examining man's imperfect and contradictory interior 
organic constitution, considering the blindness of his 
understanding, the weakness of his will, the gross in- 
clinations of his flesh, the ardor of his concupiscence, 
and the perversity of his inclinations how contemptu- 
ous is man! Human nature without these imper- 
fections was taken up by God and united to Himself, 
to His divine Personality, and this action on the 
part of God raised up man to a height of nobility 
so lofty that human intelligence cannot reach it. 
Where is human dignity if it is not in the mystery 
of God-made man by virtue of the Holy Ghost in 
the womb of the Virgin ! 

By becoming man without ceasing to be God, 
He synthetically united God to man: and as spiritual 



148 



The Messiah's Message 



essences and corporal substances were already syn- 
thetically united in man, it results that God-made 
man united in Himself on the one side corporal sub- 
stances and spiritual essences and on the other side 
the Creator of all with all His creatures. At the 
same time by voluntarily suffering and dying for man, 
He took on Himself, removing it from man, that 
primitive sin, through which the whole race in Adam 
fell into corruption, and was condemned. How 
beautiful this mystery is when we look into the con- 
venient coincidences observed by it. If the whole 
human race suffered by one man's act, it was just 
and expedient that the whole human race should be 
saved by One other Adam more perfect. If we all 
were condemned by the law of solidarity, which was 
the law of justice, it was right that we all should be 
saved by the law of reversibility, which was the law 
of mercy. It would be very unjust that we should 
suffer for the sins of a representative, if we were 
not allowed to merit through the merits of a substi- 
tute. Nothing is more conformable to reason than 
that, as the sins of our first parents were imputable, 
the merits of our second Parent should be reversible. 
And hence since we are saved by a Substitute, we 
have no reason to complain of being condemned in 
our representative. The Precious Blood shed on 
Calvary not alone blotted out our sins and satisfied 
the penalty, but through its inestimable value placed 
in us the capacity of meriting crowns. Two graces 
were given us from the Cross, first the grace of 
accepting and secondly the grace of acquiring meri- 



Sin and Redemption 



149 



torious virtue through Him when tribulation is ac- 
cepted. 

What a tremendous mystery this Jesus Christ is. 
The Son of God made man to redeem us. The re- 
demption is the grand synthesis in which are united 
and reconciled the divine justice and mercy. Con- 
sidered as God, the Lord of heaven and earth, yet 
born in a stable, living a hidden life yet suffering an 
ignominious death on the Cross. He is the center- 
point in which all theses and antitheses, with their 
perpetual contradiction and infinite variety, are united 
and reconciled in a superior synthesis. He is the 
poorest of the poor, and the richest of the rich; He 
has but swaddling clothes, and yet He is clothed 
with resplendent robes; He obeys man, and yet He 
commands the heavens and earth; He has not the 
wherewith to satisfy His hunger nor assuage His 
thirst, yet He commands the rocks to distill water 
and the loaves to multiply. Men insult Him and the 
Seraphim adore Him; invested with supreme power, 
yet He is obedient and dies because He is ordered 
to die. He is sad, sorrowful, and dejected on the 
Cross although He subjected the world and carried 
it by storm with the aid of a few poor fishermen. 
That day when Jesus hung on the Cross was a day 
of joy and sadness : it was sad because who could look 
upon that Cross and not feel pierced with sorrowful 
sympathy at the awful agony of the Crucified Saviour ; 
it was a day of joy, too, because it was the day when 
all things were restored to order. The Cross was 
the symbol of His love and the pledge of His grace. 



150 The Messiah's Message 



Through it the virgins are chaste, and the fathers 
of the desert led angelic lives; through it the martyrs 
bled and laid down their lives in unshaken constancy. 
Through it the weak astounded the strong, and the 
proscribed ascended the Capitol, disarmed and con- 
quered the world. Through the Cross all who com- 
bat gain strength ; all who seek it gain mercy, and all 
who weep gain consolation. For the past nineteen 
centuries the Cross has preached its silent and touch- 
ing sermon. Through Him crucified men change 
their course of life, abandon their property, reject 
sensual pleasure, chastise their flesh, believe in the 
sanctifying virtue of suffering, lead a pure life, and 
believe that all things visible are of less value than 
the things invisible. In this manner do we read upon 
the Cross the words of the Prophet Osee: "I will 
draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bonds 
of love." When, on one occasion, St. Thomas was 
asked where did he get all his learning, St. Thomas 
pointed to a crucifix, " there is the source of anything 
that I know." Each time that we look upon the 
symbol of the Crucified let us not alone remember 
the words of St. Thomas, but pause to peer into 
these wounds and read there the language of love. 
This voice of love is continually sounding in the ears of 
the sinner, and it says, " Why persecutest me ? " And 
it is this loving and soft accent of gentle complaint 
that goes straight to the soul, and transforms it, and 
converts it all to God, and obliges it to seek Him in 
the city and in the desert, in the rugged mountain 
and in the plains, by the highroads and by-paths. 



Sin and Redemption 



It is that voice which inflames the soul with the 
chaste love of the Spouse, and carries it in pursuit 
of His intoxicating perfumes, as thirst brings the 
stag to the beautiful springs of living waters. God 
came to the world to cast fire on the earth, and im- 
mediately the earth began to smoke and burn in all 
its four quarters, and the powerful flames of these 
divine conflagrations are daily extended through all 
regions. Love explains the inexplicable, and man 
believes through love what appears incredible, and 
does what appears impossible to do, for love smooths 
and makes everything possible. 

The great apostle, the master of the art of love, 
said : " One thing alone I desire to understand, Jesus 
Christ, and Him crucified;" which was the same as 
to say — I want to know all, and to know all, I want 
to know only Jesus Christ; for in Him are united all 
knowledge and all things ; and then he added : — 
and Him crucified: he did not say, I want to know 
Christ transfigured and glorious; no, for it avails 
little to know Him in His omnipotence, assisting in 
thought at the marvelous work of universal creation, 
nor does it suffice to know Him in His glory when 
His countenance glitters with uncreated light, and the 
powers of heaven are absorbed in admiration before 
the divine throne ; nor does he wish to see Him when 
He is pronouncing the unappealable decrees of His 
justice surrounded by His angels. The apostle with an 
assuageable thirst, unsatisfied hunger, and invincible 
desire, longs and asks for more, he mounts higher in 
daring thought; for he is only content with knowing 



The Messiah's Message 



Christ crucified, for to know Him thus is to know Him 
in the act of His incomprehensible and infinite love. 
Him only did those privileged men want to know, who 
took up their cross, and marched on, carefully lay- 
ing down their feet wherever they saw the track of 
His footsteps crimsoned with His blood. Him only 
did those chaste virgins want to know, who, laying 
all concupiscence at His feet, took Him for spouse, 
and consecrated to Him their pure virginal thoughts. 
Him alone all those want to know who, turning their 
eyes into fountains, receive tribulations with heart- 
felt joy, and ascend the rugged mount of penance. 



SIN 



God in His Almighty power so balanced the foun- 
dations of the universe, He so measured the wants 
of creatures according to their respective nature, that 
a concerted harmony existed among them. A per- 
fect equilibrium of all things existed. From the at- 
traction or repulsion of particles of matter to the 
universal movement of the great orbs in the heavens 
all things are ordained and fitted to each other in 
number, weight and measure. Through this perfect 
order and harmony all things moved directly towards 
God with a regulated motion and with an absolute 
subordination to a Supreme Being. From the first 
cry of the new-born babe to the lofty contemplation 
of the theologian, God has disposed ascensions in 
the heart of man, from earth towards the gates of 
heaven, and from the gates of heaven to His eternal 
Presence. We, even in our fallen state, feel the at- 
traction and our impulse thither. 

The angel, a pure spirit inflamed with love, gravi- 
tated towards God with a vehement and amorous grav- 
itation. Man, less perfect, but not less amorous, fol- 
lowed with his gravitation the movement of the angel. 
Matter itself agitated by a secret movement of ascen- 
sion followed the gravitation of spirits towards the 
Supreme Maker who drew all things to Himself with- 

153 
11 



154 



The Messiah- s Message 



out effort. All creatures came into existence with 
the inclination and the capacity of being transformed, 
and of ascending on the immense ladder which, be- 
ginning in the lowliest beings, ended in that Sublime 
Being who is above all beings, and whom the heavens 
and the earth, men and angels, know by a name which 
is above all names. The physical world desired to 
rise and become spiritualized in a certain way like 
man, and man desired to become more spiritualized 
than the angel, and the angel to assimilate itself more 
to that perfect Being, the Source of all life, the Creator 
of all creatures, whose height no rule can measure, 
and whose immensity no bounds can contain. 

This concerted harmony could not be disturbed ex- 
cept by a free and intelligent being. Lucifer disturbed 
it in heaven, and man disturbed it on earth. When sin 
invades the soul, its heavenly beauty is disfigured, its 
bloom has faded, its freshness withered, it has become 
colorless. Of all the mysteries the most terrible is 
that of liberty, which constitutes man the master of 
himself, as well as associates him with the Divinity 
in the ruling and in the government of all things 
human. This liberty gave to him the faculty of se- 
lecting between rebellion and obedience towards his 
God, and thus conferred on him the faculty of stain- 
ing the immaculate beauty of creation, by substituting 
disorder for disorder, perturbation for harmony, evil 
for good. From this doctrine we can see the origin 
of sin. Liberty is the faculty of willing and under- 
standing. God is perfectly free, because His under- 
standing and His will is perfect. Man is not per- 



Sin 



155 



fectly free because he is not gifted with an infinite and 
perfect understanding and will. This imperfection 
of his liberty consists in the faculty of pursuing evil 
and embracing error. Now when man was created 
by God he understood the good ; and because he under- 
stood it, and because he willed it, he executed it. 
And by executing the good that his intellect under- 
stood and his will desired, he was free. When Eve 
listened to the voice of the fallen angel her under- 
standing became immediately obscured and her will 
weakened. On that instant her liberty, which was 
not distinct from her understanding or her will, be- 
came impaired. When she passed from the culpable 
contemplation to the culpable act, her understanding 
suffered a great darkness, and her will a profound 
weakness. She dragged Adam with her, and human 
liberty became miserably enfeebled, in consequence of 
which the world burns in discords and is deafened 
with the loud shrieks of man battling against God and 
his fellow men. Evil has its origin in the use made 
of the faculty of choosing, by either adhering to the 
truth or separating from the truth, by either adher- 
ing to the good or separating from the good. When 
the understanding of our first parent, by his first 
sin, withdrew from the divine understanding, this 
withdrawal was equivalent to separating from truth; 
separated from truth it ceased to understand it. 
When the human will of our first parent withdrew 
from the divine will, this withdrawal was equivalent 
to separating from the good ; separated from the good 
it ceased to will it. Having ceased to will it, it 



156 



The Messiah- s Message 



ceased to execute it, and as man could not cease to 
exercise the intimate and permanent faculties of his 
soul, he continued to understand, to will, and to act. 
Separated from God what he understood was not the 
truth, error which is the negation of truth was then 
the term of his understanding, evil which is the 
negation of good, was then the term of his will, and 
what he did was not good, then the term of his 
actions was sin. But as sin could not change the 
essence of things, nor deprive them of their excel- 
lence, it deprived them of their sovereign harmony 
in which their divine Maker left them after He called 
them forth from chaos to existence. The wells were 
poisoned, the fountain vitiated, and what flowed from 
them was muddy and corrupt. Man having ceased to 
gravitate towards his God with his understanding, 
his will and his works, constituted himself his center, 
and the ultimate end of his understanding, his will, 
and his actions ; and immediately disorder commenced 
in the highest link of the chain of created beings 
and was communicated from one to another. And 
accordingly that tendency inherent in all creatures to 
arise and ascend to the throne of God was changed 
to a tendency to sink to a nameless abyss. * 

How far the ravages of sin have gone, and to what 
extent the whole face of creation has been disfigured 
is a matter beyond human investigation, but it is 
above all doubt that our first parents were deprived 
of their hitherto enjoyable state of happiness, stript 

*I owe a great deal to Bishop Ullathorne and Donoso Cortes 
for the above. 



Sin 



157 



of their supernatural gifts and condemned to death 
with all their posterity. The privation of those 
heavenly gifts caused in our first parents a degrada- 
tion in the spirit or soul by pride, and in the flesh 
by concupiscence. Sin produced a moral and a physi- 
cal disorder; the moral disorder consisted in the 
ignorance of the understanding and the weakness of 
the will, and the physical disorder produced by sin 
consisted in sickness and death. Nor did this great 
perturbation produced by sin end here, as not only 
Adam became subject to sickness and death, but the 
earth was cursed on his account and in his name. 
The inferior creation was deteriorated. " Cursed is 
the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou 
eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and 
thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt 
eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face 
shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out 
of which thou wast taken, for dust thou art and into 
dust thou shalt return." 

The disturbance caused by this prevarication was 
deep and profound. The first breath of air that 
blows on him, or the first ray of light that strikes on 
him is the first declaration of war by external things. 
All his vital powers rebel against the pressure of pain, 
and his whole existence is concentrated in a sob. 
Man was more deeply and radically disordered than 
the rest of creation. Labor, blasted hopes, and death 
with their innumerable progeny of evil were scat- 
tered from the hand of the Most High to the currents 
of air that encircle our globe: the sighs of broken 



158 



The Messiah's Message 



friendship, the wails of disconsolate mothers over their 
departed babes, and the sobs of loving children by 
the death-bed of their parents mingle into one dread- 
ful, unbroken groan of woe which forms the dirge of 
humanity in its lamentations over the loss of its in- 
nocence. From the cabin of the poor to the palace 
of the rich the dismal shadow of sorrow has fallen; 
misery in its hydra form coils around the king and 
the peasant; amidst poverty, sickness, and want, for 
man there is no peace but the tomb. When he 
had separated from his God, all his powers separated 
at once one from the other constituting themselves 
so many divergent centers. His understanding lost 
its authority over his will, the flesh escaped from the 
obedience it owed the spirit, and the spirit fell into 
the slavery of the flesh. All had been previously con- 
cord and harmony in man before his act of obedience, 
but all afterwards were war, tumult, contradictions 
and discord. Without other help than that of the 
divine mercy man was exposed to the impetuous cur- 
rent of all physical ills and moral tortures. His life 
became all temptation and battle, his wisdom all 
ignorance, his will all weakness, his flesh all corrup- 
tion. Every one of his actions was accompanied with 
a regret; every one of his pleasures had bitter dregs; 
his illusions were counted by his hopes ; and his griefs 
by his desires. His memory served as a torture; 
his prevision as a disappointment; his imagination 
only to throw fringes of purple and gold over his 
nakedness and misery. Enamored of the good to 
which he was born he pursued the path of evil on 



Sin 



159 



which he entered, and feeling the necessity, of a God 
he fell into the unfathomable abyss of all supersti- 
tions. Condemned to suffer who will Le capable of 
counting his misfortunes; condemned to labor with 
fatigue who knows the number of his toils; con- 
demned to perpetual sweat on his brow who can 
number the drops that fall from that brow! Place 
man as high as you wish, or as low as you may and 
nowhere will he be exempt from that penalty which 
came to him from the first sin. If calumny does not 
reach him who is high envy will, and if envy does 
not reach him who is low calumny does. Who was 
ever so high that he did not fear to fall, and who 
ever believed so firmly in the constancy of fortune 
that he did not dread its reverses ! Our life is full of 
grief and death full of terror. Pain is the insepa- 
rable companion of life in this obscure valley filled 
with our sighs, deafened with our lamentations, and 
moistened with our tears. We come into the world 
when we are born with our arms crossed on our 
breast in a penitent posture, and opening our eyes 
for the first time we open them to weep, for our first 
salute is a sob. Yes, we come into the world with 
a cry of pain and leave it with a groan which sad- 
dens those who see us die : and between the two Ex- 
tremes of life's journey, the cradle and the tomb, man 
passes along dragging a heavy chain of disappoint- 
ments, cares, griefs, and sorrows. 

The perturbation caused by the sin of Adam did 
not end in Adam and Eve with their posterity becom- 
ing subject to sickness and death, and to all the evils 



160 The Messiah's Message 

that flesh is heir to, but the earth was cursed on 
their account and in their name. As everything in 
this world was made for man, and as man himself 
is the object and end of all that is in the world, we 
must expect that when man underwent so great a 
change for the worse, all things destined for his use 
or pleasure would undergo a change adapted to his 
altered position. The earth was changed that man 
might have to toil in the sweat of his brow, and that 
the toil might be the medicine of his life as well as 
of his mortal body. The perturbation then" pro- 
duced by sin was and should be general, was and 
should be common to the high and low regions, to 
those of all spirits and to those of all bodies. 
The earth bristled with thorns and weeds, its 
herbs dried up, its plants were parched, its 
trees withered, and it covered itself with dark and 
impenetrable forests. Its fountains ceased to distill 
sweet liquor, it was consumed by heat and nipped by 
frost, and its four corners were deafened with the 
roar of impetuous whirlwinds, tornadoes, and hurri- 
canes, the heavens became leaden and rained down its 
torrents to damage his crops. Entire nature was as it 
were possessed with a mad fury against man, the seas 
on beholding him approach tossed their waves wildly, 
the mountains raised their tops on high to stop his 
path, the flowers armed themselves with thorns against 
him, the reptiles spat their venom at him, at every step 
we dread an ambuscade, and in every ambuscade, 
death. 

So wonderful is the consonance between the disor- 



Sin 



161 



ders of the physical and moral worlds that the human 
race proclaims it with one voice without comprehend- 
ing it, as if a supernatural and invincible power obliged 
it to bear testimony to the great mystery. The voice 
of tradition, the sentiments of all peoples, the echoes 
of the whole world, all tell us mysteriously of a great 
physical and moral disorder which happened in times 
anterior to the dawn of history in consequence of a 
primitive fault. Even yet if by chance the elements 
become disordered and there are strange phenomena 
in the celestial spheres, and great visitations of pesti- 
lence and famine, if the seasons change their placid 
course and be confounded and battle with one another, 
if the earth be convulsed with earthquakes, if the 
winds freed from the reins that curbed their impetu- 
osity blow into hurricanes, then rises from the people, 
the guardians of tremendous tradition, a persistent and 
tremulous voice which seeks the cause of the unusual 
disturbance in a crime sufficient to enrage the Divinity 
and bring on the earth the maledictions of heaven. 
Nor is history wanting in remarkable examples which 
come in support of this universal tradition transmitted 
from father to son, from family to family, from race 
to race, for when crime has risen to a certain level and 
has filled its measure, then tremendous catastrophies 
have visited nations and rude shocks disturbed the 
world. First of all occurred that universal perversion 
of which the Holy Scriptures tell us when all men 
joined in the same apostasy, and in the same forget ful- 
ness of God, lived without other good, and without 
other law than their criminal pleasures and their frantic 



The Messiah's Message 



passions; to such a fetid state of corruption was hu- 
manity then reduced that an expression of sorrow was 
heard from the lips of the Creator that He created 
man, and when the cup of divine wrath was filled the 
angels opened the cataracts of heaven and there burst 
forth that portentous inundation of water that swept 
man from the face of the earth and buried everything 
in universal ruin. Again, does not the terrible tale of 
Sodom and Gomorrah bear a living testimony to this 
great truth? two cities that wallowed in the mire of 
impurity. God could no longer refrain from showing 
His scourge of justice; He rained down fire from 
heaven upon them and burned them to a cinder. When 
the Desired of all nations came to the world, the time 
of His coming was remarkable above all for the per- 
versity of man, and for the universal corruption of 
morals. The angel of evil stalked with diabolical 
pomp upon the earth, matter enshrouded the spirit, and 
the whole world became polluted. Evil and good 
struggled but the demon triumphed. Man's heart be- 
came an outlet whereby his soul strayed away from 
things divine to feed on the husks of the earth. To 
this was added that one day of sad and tearful mem- 
ory, the most sad and tearful of all that passed since 
creation. A people blind and maddened with frenzy 
took its God in its hands, seeing Him so poor, so meek 
and so humble, it outraged His poverty, it mocked His 
meekness, and despised His humility. Secretly agi- 
tated by the infernal furies it made Him drain to the 
very dregs the chalice of infamy in Pilate's hall, and of 
ignominy by murdering Him betweeen two thieves on 



Sin 



163 



the cross. Then again the cup of divine wrath flowed 
over, and the union between the moral and physical 
world is seen. At the moment of His death the earth 
began to rumble and quake as though a great agitation 
rocked it. The brilliant sun had deadened, the sky had 
taken a coppery color, all the world was blackening 
fiercely, lurid redness gashed the heavens, it was as if 
they had been splashed with blood.'' A deadly dark- 
ness swept down upon the crosses, a roar that was 
neither tempest, nor thunder, occupied the air, the 
darkness deepened to fright. Then the lips of the 
earth opened and spoke. The earthquake tore the rocks 
of Golgotha, and the walls of the city reeled, the 
tombs in ancient burial places were loosened and sepul- 
chers left open to the reeling gaze." 

This wonderful consonance so evident between the 
physical and moral world, between sin and punishment, 
in the history of the human race taken collectively, is 
also visible in the individual sinner as the drama of 
life unfolds itself to our view. The sinner may rebel- 
liously break through the moral laws framed by the 
Creator, and by so doing satiate his animal propensi- 
ties upon poisonous passions abhorred by the laws of 
nature, he may roam wildly in defiance of heaven's 
decrees until marked by the scars of crime and infamy 
which reveal his servitude to the demon of his pas- 
sions; he may bend the knee to the Baal of sin and 
adore the Prince of Darkness, but the hour will come, 
sooner or later, when he shall hear the accusing voice 
of the offended Majesty of God thundering from on 
high, " Thou shalt no longer adore nor serve them, I 



The Messiah's Message 



am thy Lord thy God, mighty and jealous, visiting the 
iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the 
third and fourth generation." Oh, bless God if for 
your crimes you undergo punishment in this life! 
Bless God if your life is one category of miseries crush- 
ing you and humbling you to the earth. Bless God if 
famine or pestilence visit you in punishment of sin. 
Better to suffer temporary pain here while buffeted 
and dashed against the rocks of a cold and shelterless 
world, than to await the chastisement of God in the 
world to come. It is a dreadful consideration to dwell 
on, that while we are assembled here in the temple of 
God, there is some place in His creation, a place where 
crime is punished, a place that is the object of all hor- 
ror and of all dread, where there is insatiable thirst 
without alleviation, perpetual hunger without satisfac- 
tion, where the eyes never see, where the ears never 
hear aught but the source of pain, where all is agita- 
tion without repose, weeping without intermission, 
grief without consolation. A place with one door of 
entrance, but none of escape. On its threshold are 
written these words, " Hope dies and memory be- 
comes immortal." 



SIN AND ITS FIRST PUNISHMENT 



In all the dynasties that preceded the creation of 
man, no matter how insignificant or low they may be, 
all in their respective kingdoms, in their quiet and un- 
obtrusive beauty are worthy of the God that formed 
them. To be low and insignificant was not to be 
guilt-stained. But when we pass over the line and 
come into the human period, into that kingdom of re- 
sponsibility, we find a different state of things. Low- 
ness here means not innocence, inferiority means moral 
depravity. This is a problem startling and perplexing, 
and worthy of attention and scrutiny. Where are we 
to go to look for an explanation of this fact? In that 
freedom of man's will, which, while it rendered man 
capable of working with God for the elevation and the 
development of both himself and his fellow man, also 
conferred on him the ability of choosing not to co- 
operate with God. 

When we compare man with those creatures that 
occupy the lowest dynasties, we find that he is less true 
to his proper end and destiny than these inferior ani- 
mals, for they pursue unerringly their several instincts 
while man fails to work out his. We see this occur- 
ring every day. Man enjoying the gift of free-will, 
may sink into sensual gulfs both bodily and mentally, 
or enrich himself with the treasures of virtue. He 

165 



The Messiah's Message 



may, if he pleases, yield to the ignoble solicitations of 
appetite and become a most destructive factor in 
shortening the days of his own life, ( and as a parent be 
a corrupt and venal source of an immoral and worth- 
less offspring, or he may, by denying himself many 
an insidious and brutal indulgence, become a healthy 
member of society and the father of a useful and com- 
forting family. This is the history of the human 
race with its light and shade, its waifs and stragglers, 
as well as its strong and healthy on the onward march 
of time and life. Man is the great deteriorator as 
well as the builder of man. 

When a child is traveling along a lonesome road at 
night it sees objects ahead and immediately the active 
imagination pronounces these objects to be some spec- 
ter or goblin lying in wait to devour it. But when 
we approach the object that was of such dread, we 
find it only imaginary. This is an illustration of how 
we materialize things that have no existence. In this 
instance it is the mind that is in fault; it gives its 
assent to an image of the imagination. In like man- 
ner when we take imaginary error for actual truth, 
and take imaginary evil for actual good, in both these 
cases it is our will that is at fault. It gives its assent to 
an image of the imagination, as though it was some 
real truth, and its assent to some imaginary good as 
if it were some real good. From this it follows that 
our will, through its assent, is the source of evil. 

If you enter a dark room with a lighted candle in 
your hand you dispell the darkness, but it does not fol- 
low from your appearance with the lighted taper that 



Sin and Its First Punishment 167 



you evicted from that room something real and sub- 
stantial. When you pour water out of a cup and 
emptiness remains, you would not say that emptiness 
was something real, positive, and substantial: well, 
darkness bears the same relation to light as emptiness 
does to fullness, darkness is nothingness just as empti- 
ness is nothingness. When you see your shadow on 
the ground, you would not say that it is anything real, 
there is no life in it, although your form is there, and 
if you move your arm, or any other part of your body, 
that part represented in the shadow will also move. 
Now when we speak of good and evil, of error and 
truth, both evil and error have no real existence, they 
have no substance. They are just like darkness, empti- 
ness, or the shadow. Darkness is the absence of light, 
emptiness is the absence of fullness, and a shadow is 
the absence of reality. Let us apply this form of 
definition to evil and error, and we find evil to be the 
privation of good, and error to be the negation of 
truth. 

Suppose from the absence of light an accident oc- 
curs to us during a dark night, we attribute the acci- 
dent to the darkness ; and if we feel hungry from the 
want of food we attribute the cause of our hunger to 
hunger, as if darkness and hunger were real, substan- 
tial and positive causes. In like manner we confound 
the pains and sufferings brought on us by evil as evil 
were something real and substantial. We must not 
materialize what has no existence. 

There are three kinds of evil. First, there is natural 
evil which consists in the absence or privation in the 



The Messiah's Message 



individual of some good which belongs to the species. 
It is a defect of nature. Second, there is moral evil 
or sin which consists in the defect or privation of 
rectitude in the will of an intelligent creature. It is a 
defect or falling of! from the will of God. Third, 
there is penal evil, or the evil of punishment, which is 
the privation of good, because of moral evil. The 
first cause of all these is the human will. The human 
will is defective whenever it is out of its own order, 
for example. We often read of disease festering in 
the slums of cities, caused by the accumulation of filth, 
where not only the streets and alleys but the houses 
reek with dirt. The very atmosphere becomes sur- 
charged and polluted with the noxious gases that rise 
from this cesspool of creeping corruption. The un- 
happy people dwelling in those sordid stys of vermin 
look more like specters from the grave than human 
beings. The threatening scourge appears ; it is merci- 
less; an epidemic breaks out accompanied with all its 
customary horrors ; death triumphs, and thousands are 
swept cofrinless into untimely graves. Dirt is the first 
cause of the epidemic. But dirt as the festering cause 
of disease is only matter in the wrong place. Allow 
it to accumulate and remain about a human dwelling 
and it will destroy life; spread it over the land to 
fertilize it and it will produce plants and fruits and 
thereby support life. Dirt, therefore, is good in itself 
when it is in the right place, and an evil when in the 
wrong place. Now the will of man, good in itself, is 
good when it adheres to justice, but evil when it falls 
from justice and sinks down to things that are unjust 



Sin and Its First Punishment 169 

and disorderly. In this circumstance it , looses its 
purity and becomes defiled with sin. 

Now if sin consists in the defection of the human 
will, it must be a defection from something good in 
which it exists, a falling off from something good to 
which it was attached. For example : Sickness is the 
privation of health, but it corrupts the body, yet what 
remains of the body is good ; a wound is the privation 
of soundness, but it corrupts the limb. So is it with 
souls. The vices which are the wounds and sickness 
of the soul are the privations of virtues and cannot 
exist of themselves without some good of nature re- 
maining in which they exist. It only corrupts but does 
not destroy our nature. Souls in sin are> therefore, 
good in what they are, and in what they have. They 
are evil by their failure from justice and the corrup- 
tion in consequence of that failure. They are de- 
praved by falling from good affections and from good 
actions ; by deserting the Supreme Good for which they 
were made ; and by abandoning the good order which 
should regulate, beautify, and perfect their nature and 
lead them onwards to their Supreme Good. When 
man sins the wings of his soul are clogged with mire 
of his sinful life and he cannot fly to the bright re- 
gions of good or truth. He is riveted to the things 
beneath him and he wallows in their mire. The bright 
image of his Maker that is on his soul is blurred by 
the criminal stainings of his concupiscence. And 
while in this state of moral disease we are moral lepers, 
and should cry aloud in the words of the leper, " Lord, 

if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. ,, 

12 



170 



The Messiah's Message 



When we commit a sin, sin passes away in the act, 
but the effect of that act remains, and that effect is 
guiltiness; to this guiltiness punishment is attached. 
When man wishes to know the affections or ill-will, the 
love or hatred hidden in his fellowman's heart, he 
looks in his face and endeavors to read there the feel- 
ings or language of his heart. When man wishes to 
know what internal motives actuate his fellow-man's 
deeds, he watches his actions and from them he forms 
a judgment of his motives. But God has no need to 
have recourse to this fallible and slow process of dis- 
covery. He sees the secrets of man's soul directly. 
When the accused is arraigned before the court of hu- 
man justice, the internal conscience of that accused 
is closed against the inspection of the prosecutors, and 
the presumed malice is inferred from his outward act. 
But before the eye of God the whole interior soul is 
laid open, and the guilt measured by the intention. 
According to human judgment the guilt must be 
proved by external acts before punishment is awarded, 
but according to divine judgment the guilt is estab- 
lished by the interior act and the proof of that act is 
recorded in the conscience and there in that conscience 
the first punishment begins. 

After the committal of a crime we feel our soul 
troubled and distressed by an internal discord, we 
know that we are deformed internally, and in order 
to cover up that deformity of soul we have recourse 
to excuses, to fencings, and maskings. This was the 
feeling of our first parents after their sin, and it is our 
conduct, too, when we violate the laws of God. After 



Sin and Its First Punishment 171 

crime we realize that we are severed from truth and 
justice, that those spiritual cords that held us to God 
snapped, and down we fell into the deep depths of a 
degraded state. There in that state we feel a dreari- 
ness, a loneliness, a vacancy that fill us with remorse 
and bitterness. These pangs of a rebuking conscience 
have been justly called " the worm of remorse/' " the 
sting of conscience," " the iron f lute of sin." They 
will follow you everywhere, shake them off you can- 
not, they are glued to you, they are riveted to you, you 
are bolted down beneath their crushing weight. 
Clothe yourself with burnished steel, and the sting, the 
bite, the fang and pang of a rebuking conscience will 
pierce it. No matter how profound you may sleep the 
sleep of unconsciousness, the nightmare of your crime 
will haunt you, its awful specter will appear, and that 
apparition will make you tremble. " Conscience doth 
make cowards of us all." Lock yourself up in a cell, 
bar all communication from the outward world to that 
cell; bury yourself in a cave far away from the haunts 
of men, be it in a trackless desert, or in the moun- 
tain's chasm ; are you alone there ? No, there is one 
that is always by your side speaking to you, and his 
language is the language of all tongues; his eloquence 
is unequaled whether it be approving or condemning. 
That companion is your conscience. Let your voice 
be the voice of thunder, but the voice of conscience will 
be heard above it accusing you, condemning you, pun- 
ishing you. If all the voices of the human race formed 
a universal chorus and pleaded in your favor to license 
a misdeed, they could not calm a troubled conscience. 



172 The Messiah's Message 



Its voice will rise above all and condemn us, it will 
strike us, it will pierce us, its inexorable judgment will 
crush every lie told to exonerate us. " The sin of 
Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of 
a diamond on the tablet of the heart." " Pride may- 
cloud and darken the mind, sensuality may blunt our 
sensibilities, as we know habits of sin do, and even 
go so far as to benumb and paralyze the soul, and 
weaken to a certain extent the powers of the con- 
science, but to kill it, to extinguish its light, their at- 
tempts are futile, for its stern and severe tones of con- 
demnation will be heard forever. 

"What exile from himself can flee? 

To zones though more and more remote 
Still, still pursues, where'er I be, 
The blight of life — the demon Thought." 

Conscience will leave you no rest, no peace of soul 
until you repent and return to Him whom you have 
offended. Listen. Listen to that voice calling you to 
reprehend and punish in yourself what you believe God 
would reprehend and punish; by this action you will 
arrest the avenging hand of your avenging Judge. A 
sharp and sudden shock of a visitation may burst the 
thick crust that armored your soul, and lay it bare to 
the sting of conscience. Listen to its voice, for death 
may come quicker than repentance ; then drops the veil, 
and there stands the soul with its dark record before 
the judgment seat- of God with conscience as its wit- 
ness. 



PUNISHMENT OF SIN CONTINUED 



We have seen that conscience is the first whip that 
scourges the sinner. It is the first court of justice 
where we writhe and wriggle under its heavy strokes. 
And would to God that the punishment of sin ended 
there, but it is not so, for the whole life of our Saviour 
is teeming with warnings of the dreadful punishment 
that awaits the impenitent sinner. 

When the Infant Jesus was brought into the temple, 
there was nothing about His outward appearance to 
distinguish Him from all other children. He exhib- 
ited no indication of strength or power. His lan- 
guage is the language of a baby — tears. We see in 
Him no mark of wealth or greatness. His mother 
who bears Him in her arms, and nourishes Him with 
her milk, is poor and humble. A poor artisan ac- 
companies Him and acts as a father to Him. These 
form His retinue. Who could refrain from believing 
that He is some obscure infant whose life would be 
attended with as little splendor as His birth, and would 
never exert the slightest influence upon the destinies of 
mankind. 

In the meantime a holy sage enters the temple. No 
sooner does he behold this Infant, who was so feeble 
in appearance, than he penetrates by faith through 
those veils behind which the majesty of God lay con- 

173 



174 



The Messiah's Message 



cealed and adores the son of the virgin as the son of 
God. He takes this Infant in his arms, and exclaims 
in the excess of his joy, that all he desires now is to 
die, because his eyes beheld Him who was destined 
to be the glory of His people, the light of nations, the 
elevation of the world. Then looking through the 
mist of future ages, and beholding at one view all the 
effects which the coming of the Redeemer should pro- 
duce on earth — all the prodigies which His justice 
and His mercy would effect through the course of time 
— he comprised them in a short and prophetic sen- 
tence addressed to Mary the mother of the Infant. 
" Behold this child is set for the fall and resurrection 
of many in Israel." 

In these prophetic words a light is let in that reveals 
the true history of this mysterious Infant, and His re- 
lation to the world. It shows us this Infant, although 
covered with swaddling clothes, to be the Master of the 
world, and the inexorable Judge of the human race; 
that upon Him alone should depend the loss or the 
salvation, the elevation or downfall of men and na- 
tions; that upon Him alone must depend the destinies 
of the universe for the time to come. The literal ful- 
fillment of that great prophecy is exhibited to our view 
in the history of nations where we see Jesus Christ 
exercising an undivided sovereignty over the world, 
disposing of scepters and crowns with absolute au- 
thority, exalting or deposing sovereigns, creating or 
crushing dynasties and empires according to the dic- 
tates of His will — choosing and rejecting whomso- 
ever He pleases — overturning with His almighty hand 



Punishment of Sin Continued 175 



whatever opposes His designs — supporting His im- 
mortal work against the efforts of hell — proving in a 
word that it belongs to Him to plant or uproot, to build 
up or to destroy, to give life or death as each seems 
good to His divine will. 

While absorbed in the contemplation of the spiritual 
power which Jesus Christ invisibly exercises upon the 
heart of man by the sweet secrets of His grace, we are 
apt to pass over that authority which He enjoys as su- 
preme Master and Ruler of kings and peoples, an au- 
thority before which all human societies must bow 
down in obedience, and whose voice every member of 
society must irresistibly listen to. No matter how 
revolutionary, how revolting, how stormy the human 
passions of men be, they must conform to its ultimate 
end. I wish to direct your attention to this visible 
reign of God amid these commotions, and by unfolding 
the leaves of history we will be confronted with facts 
which reveal to us that the fate of those who ob- 
stinately resist Jesus Christ is to perish, while victory 
is the crown for those who fight beneath His banner. 
Such is the picture I wish to place before you, the ruin 
of those nations, sovereigns, and individuals who de- 
clared themselves the enemies of Christ and His 
Church. 

" Woe to Corozain and Bethsaida because they had 
not been converted by miracles that would have 
brought even Tyre and Si don to do penance, and thou 
Capharnaum which art exalted unto heaven thou shalt 
be thrust down to hell." The words of our Saviour 
are a cry of pain upon the unbelief of the inhabitants 



176 



The Messiah's Message 



of these cities, and in this province. He justifies this 
judgment upon these on account of the unbelief of the 
inhabitants and their stubbornness towards God Him- 
self. He says that the judgment upon these cities was 
on account of their rejection of His messengers, who 
are His representatives by virtue of their mission. 
" He that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despis- 
eth you, despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me." 
The result of the Nazarene's curse has been fulfilled to 
the letter ; it is shown by the barren and sterile appear- 
ance of the country surrounding lake Genesareth. In 
the days of our Saviour, glowing with life, it bloomed 
and blossomed like a flower garden, but it is no longer 
the fair and fragrant garden; shady trees, palaces, 
towns have vanished, thistles and ruins mark the for- 
mer sites of Corozain and Bethsaida. Nothing re- 
mains but the lake itself still shimmering in the sun- 
light with its clear lonely surface upon which scarcely 
a boat rocks to-day. A veil of sadness and desola- 
tion hangs over all. Thoughts rush to remind us how 
terrible it is to reject the word of God and incur His 
anathemas. 

" Ask of me, and I- will give to thee the Gentiles 
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with 
a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a 
potter's wheel. And now, O ye kings, serve the Lord 
with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling, lest 
at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish when 
His wrath shall be kindled." Let us contemplate the 
fulfilling of that momentous policy in the history of 



Punishment of Sin Continued 177 

the Jewish people. They were the first to attest by 
their downfall the avenging power of their divine 
King. The history of Israel is a history of waste 
of God's graces. God cried out again and again and 
spread His wings over that nation as a mother bird 
spreads her wings to protect her brood, but the return 
from that people was in their wanton wickedness to 
kill His prophets and messengers and finally Himself. 
Christ in language most scathing points out their stub- 
bornness and contumacy with which they met many 
tokens of God's favors. Addressing Himself in par- 
ticular to the Pharisees, He compared them to scoured 
cups, clean outside but full of filth inside. He com- 
pared them to sepulchers which look trim outside when 
they are whitewashed at Easter, but full of putrefac- 
tion within. He threatens them with terrible punish- 
ment. " You serpents, you vipers, how will you flee 
from the judgment of hell?" He brings together in 
one picture all their moral depravity, and with words 
winged with wrath He hurls the final sentence against 
them, against their city and their temple. As 
Prophet, as Judge, and as King He lifted the mysteri- 
ous veil and proclaimed the ruin of the murderess of 
God and His prophets. " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou 
that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent 
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy chil- 
dren as the hen doth gather her chickens under her 
wings, but thou wouldst not. Behold your house shall 
be left to you desolate. For the days shall come upon 
thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, 
and compass thee around, and straighten thee on every 



i 7 8 



The Messiah's Message 



side. And beat thee flat to the ground, and the chil- 
dren who are in thee, and they shall not leave a stone 
upon a stone, because thou hast not known the time 
of thy visitation." 

The prediction of Christ forms a most tragic scene 
in His life. Our Lord, surrounded by His Apostles, 
sitting on the gentle slope of Mount Olivet, facing 
the city and temple when their beauty and splendor 
were bathing in the morning sun, saw vividly how 
these walls would be blackened, battered, and leveled 
to the ground. He saw the pretty fresh-cheeked chil- 
dren who now ran by His side, bleeding, charred, and 
mutilated corpses in the streets of the stormed city. 
He saw the ominous threatenings and destruction ap- 
proaching her from all parts of the compass. Our 
Saviour gazed sadly at the proud and obstinate city. 
His grief and compassion forced tears from His eyes, 
and while He was in the midst of the honors and joys 
of a triumphal procession through the city He heaved 
heavy sighs. 

As Christ predicted, the besieging army came, sur- 
rounded the city and left it to feed on itself. So great 
was the desolation and abomination in Jerusalem from 
internal distress during the siege that we do not find 
in the pages of history any other city to have suffered 
such miseries, nor did any age, from the beginning of 
the world, ever breed a generation more fruitful in 
wickedness than this. To escape from the brawling 
brutality and cruelties perpetrated on the unhappy in- 
habitants of the city, thousands rushed through the 
gates and fled to their enemies; but the Roman sol- 



Punishment of Sin Continued 179 



diers out of wrath and hatred they bore the Jews 
nailed them to crosses until room was wanting for 
the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies. Fam- 
ine devoured the people by whole houses and families ; 
the upper rooms were filled with women and children 
dying from hunger, the lanes of the city were full of 
the dead bodies of the aged, and the young men wan- 
dered about the market places like grim specters from 
the grave. The starving population was driven to 
search the common sewers and dunghills of cattle for 
food. It is recorded by Josephus of a mother taking 
her child and crying out, " Oh, miserable infant, for 
whom shall I preserve thee in this war, in this famine, 
in this sedition! As to the war with the Romans, if 
they preserve our lives, we must be slaves. This fam- 
ine will also destroy us. Come on, and be my food, 
and thou be a pass-word to the world which is now all 
that is wanting to complete the calamity of us Jews." 
As soon as she said these words, she slew her son, and 
then roasted him, and ate part of him, and kept the 
other part by her concealed. The soldiers entered 
and smelling the cooked food, threatened to cut her 
throat immediately if she did not show them what food 
she had got ready. She replied that she had saved a 
very fine portion of it for them, and forthwith uncov- 
ered what was left of her son. " This is my son," 
she said, " and what hath been done was my own 
doing. Come, eat of this food, for I have eaten of it 
myself. Do not you pretend to be more tender than 
a woman, or more compassionate than a mother." 
No one will shield Israel from the army of Caesar. 



180 The Messiah's Message 

Its blood-guiltiness can only be expiated by the blood 
of the whole nation. The fatal day came at last. 
Titus with his conquering legions battered the walls 
of the city to pieces, set fire to the Temple and plun- 
dered everything that came to hand. Those that were 
caught were slain, nor was there any commiseration 
for age or sacredness of character. The Jews fled into 
the houses in order to escape from the merciless sol- 
diers of Titus, the houses were set on fire and every 
soul in them burned. Some crept into the sewers 
for shelter, but they were dragged out and slain. The 
very streets and lanes were clogged up with the dead. 
The soldiers becoming tired from the butchering in 
the universal slaughter, received orders from their 
general to slay only the aged and those who bore 
arms. Those who were the comeliest in looks he lead 
away as captives, others he sent to Egypt as slaves, 
and the remaining he dispatched to various provinces 
to be the food of wild beasts in the amphitheaters. 
As soon as the army had no more people to slay or to 
plunder, Titus gave his final orders to demolish the en- 
tire city and temple. Where is that grotesque temple 
to-day, the precious idol of Israel? Where is that 
proud and obstinate city to-day ? A lonely flower may 
brighten the wild undergrowth where once they have 
stood. 

There is no necessity in using graphic language to 
place before you that astonishing dispersion of the He- 
brew nation, and which had been so solemnly pre- 
dicted by Christ and the ancient prophets, and literally 
fulfilled during the past nineteen centuries, for its 



Punishment of Sin Continued 181 

mutilated body chopped into pieces is scattered all 
over the world exhibiting to every beholder a most 
remarkable monument of the divine vengeance and 
the dreadful punishment that follows deicide. Here 
was a people, the chosen of God, the depositary of the 
sacred oracles, and of the promises that related to the 
Messiah, but when that Messiah came they loaded Him 
with insult and calumny, and seeing Him so weak, 
so humble, and so poor, they mocked His meekness, 
despised His humility, and outraged His poverty. 
They continued their persecution unto death, and were 
not afraid to ask that His blood should be upon them- 
selves and their children. The dreadful anathema fell 
as they requested, and ever since that day of sad and 
tearful memory they are wandering about like Cain- 
fugitives upon the earth. 

The moral order operating on families and nations 
develops the moral side of man, and when the moral 
life has been developed in him, the moral law con- 
tinues its duty in shielding and strengthening him 
against the opposing influences that tend to break him 
up and quench his moral life by substituting for it the 
animal life. When we read the history of the rise and 
fall of nations, we are forced to observe that as soon 
as nations give themselves up to their animal instincts 
and forget the moral side, they will soon be blotted 
out of living history. And we see on the other hand 
that those peoples who live up to a high standard of 
morality, occupy a long-lived history in the pages of 
the world. Hence the great danger of material pros- 
perity pampering the lower passions of men and na- 



182 



The Messiah's Message 



tions to such a degree that they will forget the moral 
law and sink to the lowest abysses of nature. It is in 
this stage that the tare is sown which later on will em- 
bitter the whole nation. This great truth is exempli- 
fied in the history of the Roman Empire, and that ma- 
terial prosperity that preceded it. Owing to the brutal 
use of the immense riches amassed from the plunder of 
the conquered nations we see the seeds of degeneracy 
sown, for the condition of the people grew worse as 
the Republic grew richer. In the history of nations 
no page is more polluted than those leaves that record 
the history of the customs and manners of the Roman 
people. Profligacy and unbridled licentiousness were 
rampant. Vice in all its forms had its gods and 
goddesses. The wing of faith and the wing of love 
became conglutinated with the slime of concupiscence 
and were glued to the things of the earth. Man's 
heart became an outlet through which his soul strayed 
away from things divine to feed on the husks of 
the earth. The cup of iniquity was filled, and the 
divine vengeance came. Where, I ask, is that great 
Empire to-day? Where is that proud Roman Eagle 
that flapped its golden wings from the Euphrates to the 
Thames over the defeated hosts of its enemies? The 
finger of time dipped in dust has written its epitaph 
upon its enormous skeleton. Not a remnant of that 
Empire is extant to-day save what we see in the broken 
columns of its Forums, triumphal arches, and the 
crumbling galleries of its amphitheaters, where " man 
was slaughtered by his fellow man/' and " butchered 



Punishment of Sin Continued 183 

to make a Roman holiday " amid the satanic orgies of 
a lewd and distracted people. 

In the midst of the crash of crumbling empires, sur- 
feited and intoxicated by reason of their triumphs 
over conquered nations, is heard the trumpet-tongued 
voice of God through His Church on earth, and in 
threatening language warns the individual, the family, 
the nation, that if they violate His law and set up for 
worship the idols of their passions, they must expect 
His dreadful anathemas. And no effort on the part 
of man will ever prevail in hushing to silence that 
voice. It has been heard in every age by all peoples 
and by all classes. It spoke to Cain the first mur- 
derer, to Judas Iscariot, and to the last enrolled on 
the calendar of the sanctified. The king on his throne 
of glittering gold heard it and still hears it. The busy 
merchant hears it, and no matter how loud the hum 
of his machinery may be, its voice is still louder. We 
can't stifle its stern and piercing tones. We hear it 
in those calm intervals between the acts of our roister- 
ing revelries before the curtain of life is rung down, 
warning us to curb the reins of sin and passion. To 
you whose days are in the yellow leaf, to you whose 
brow is commencing to show the furrows of time, to 
you whose cheeks wear the autumnal hue of decay, 
I say to you if you are still dishonest become honest, 
if you are impure become pure, if you are selfish, 
avaricious, uncharitable, become charitable, and love 
thy Lord with thy whole heart and thy neighbor as 
thyself for the love of God. 



ETERNAL PUNISHMENT 



We see legislators in all times and in all countries 
making laws for the good government of the people, 
and administrators of those laws inflicting punishment 
on those who violate them. The history of nations 
tells us of esteem and contempt, of love and hatred, of 
reward and punishment. We see men crowned with 
laurels in hero-worship, and crime punished in others. 
This is the basis of our social organization. Among 
civilized nations a man is not condemned without a 
hearing. Witnesses are summoned to show how much 
premeditation is in the crime, and the criminal is pun- 
ished according to the degree of premeditation and 
the nature of the offense. 

Every man owes loyalty and good conduct to the 
society of which he is a member. But if instead of 
doing good he does evil to society; if he troubles its 
order with disorder; if he disturbs its rights with in- 
justice he owes a debt of justice to the common good, 
and has to expiate his evil with punishment in order 
that his disorder may be rectified by another kind of 
order, imposed on him against his will. It is here 
where human justice comes in and through the instru- 
mentality of punishment becomes a provident regula- 
tion of evil. But if the evil that man commits be a 

184 



Eternal Punishment 



185 



mortal offense, destructive of society or its members, 
such an evil is beyond a temporal remedy, and the good 
of society demands that he be cut off from it by exile 
or death. This course of punishment is adopted to- 
wards criminals for the purpose of deterring them 
from like evils and to purify society. There are there- 
fore two kinds of punishment in human justice, one a 
temporal chastisement in vindication of justice, and 
directed to the amendment and recovery of the crim- 
inal, the other a final separation from the good, both 
for the vindication of justice and to protect the good 
from incurable evil. That awful punishment is as 
everlasting as the soul, because God is just to the 
eternal order of things, because it is due to the nature 
of things, because the fear of like evils may keep other 
men from evil, and because after the probation of the 
just is ended society must be kept pure and holy ever- 
more. 

When man becomes a deserter from the ranks of 
God's army, he commits treason against the majesty 
and divine sovereignty of God, he commits ingratitude 
against the divine Goodness, and is an abuser of God's 
gifts. He deserts God of his own free-will, and if he 
perseveres in this desertion to the end of his life, he 
loses all claim to freedom ; the power of choice is with- 
drawn; the sun of his probational life has set; he has 
forever made his choice of apostasy from the Infinite 
and Eternal Good for which he was made, and that 
choice is final, it is irrevocable. There is a gulf be- 
tween that soul and God that never can be bridged, 

because the communion between that soul and God has 

13 



The Messiah's Message 



been utterly broken down by the voluntary act of the 
soul herself. 

In the judging of the unjust soul, the acts of the 
will are the evidence; God and the conscience are the 
witnesses. Separated from the world and self -con- 
demned, separated from God and condemned of God, 
the immortal soul of the sinner departing in its sins, 
can only be consigned to where malice, and darkness, 
and disorder are everlasting. 

Before this final separation takes place the soul 
stands before the bar of divine Justice; the acts of the 
will are evidences of the soul's transgressions of the 
law; hide them as you may, cover them up in dark- 
ness as dark as hell itself, one day they will be bared 
and appear in all their heinousness. Two witnesses 
confront you, they cannot be bribed, they cannot be 
corrupted, you cannot silence them, they will speak, and 
when they speak they will speak the truth. Conscience 
is the first witness, "the firmament of the soul," far 
and away more* clear and beautiful than the vault of 
the natural heavens. " Conscience, Conscience," cried 
Rousseau, " divine instinct, heavenly and immortal 
voice, unerring guide of beings, ignorant and limited, 
yet intelligent and free." What guilty soul has not 
heard her stern and severe tones speaking within him 
with unspeakable groanings? What guilty soul has 
not felt its arrows pierce her ? " Here is a pain," 
says Juvenal, " which surpasses the torments of Cedi- 
tius, and Radamanthus, namely, the bearing about 
within us night and day the witness of our crime." 
Domitian hidden in his palace, like a wild beast in his 



'Eternal Punishment 



i8 7 



cave, " cannot escape the invisible executioner." Why 
did (Edipus tear out his eyes after his incestuous 
crime ? Because his conscience smote him. Why did 
Orestes think the Furies were ever after him? Be- 
cause of his guilty conscience. Why did Lady Mac- 
beth, when she saw the stains of blood on her hands, 
exclaim, " Out, damned spot, out ! " ? Because her 
conscience smote her. 

There is another dreadful witness to our sinful 
deeds, the ever-watchful eye of the invisible Master. 
It is that God whose soft and whispering voice caused 
the Prophet Elias to cover his face with his mantle 
and remain silent and motionless. " No creature is 
invisible in his light, but all things are naked and open 
to His eyes," says St. Paul. And St. John gives ex- 
pression to the same idea in these words, " The sinner 
rises from his bed at night, despising his own soul, 
and saying, who seeth me ? Darkness compasseth me 
about and the walls cover me, whom do I fear? and 
he knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are brighter 
than the sun beholding all the ways of men, and look- 
ing into the hearts of men." An Arabian proverb 
says, In the black night God sees the black ant on the 
black marble. 

Belief in eternal punishment is not confined to 
Christians alone, it was the creed of the Gentile world 
also, and the universal and constant doctrine of all 
men. It is an. historical fact which no one familiar 
with the traditions, the records of the human race will 
venture to deny. False forms of worship differ from 
the true, but in determining the pains of hell they are 



1 88 The Messiah's Message 



in accord with Christianity in admitting their eternity. 
Superstition speaks on it alike with reason, tradition 
alike with philosophy, Virgil and Ovid alike with St. 
Paul, Mythology alike with the Gospel. Fable may 
become blurred in traditional transmission, passions 
have crushed out many doctrines that condemned their 
indulgence, but they have never been able to obscure 
or destroy the universal and constant belief of human- 
ity in eternal punishment. Whence comes this mar- 
velous concurrence of mankind in all ages upholding 
a doctrine so opposed to the rebellious tendencies of hu- 
man passions? Either it is a general tradition de- 
scending from one primeval divine revelation, or it 
is the testimony of nature, the voice of conscience 
which speaks always the same language, and whose 
verdict, uniform in character, permanent in duration, 
and universal in extent, is a plain guarantee of the 
truth it conveys, for the consent of all nations cannot 
bear witness to falsehood. 

Reason does not invent that which it does not 
comprehend. Finite reason does not invent infinite 
conceptions. The reason of man cannot comprehend 
eternal punishment, therefore it cannot invent it. 
Moreover, eternal punishment is a dreadful punish- 
ment that desolates the mind, aggrieves and terrifies 
the heart. Now humanity is too miserable and too 
corrupt to be capable of inventing of itself, or of 
being able to accept or retain without repugnance, 
and with such accord and uniformity, a belief that 
menaced all its vices, that embittered all its pleasures, 
that disturbs all its passions. This belief, therefore, 



Eternal Punishment 



that has existed from the creation of man down to 
our time, does not exist, nor could it exist, unless it 
was born with the world. Man has not invented it, 
but received it from a superior reason. It is not the 
offspring of human intelligence, but a divine revela- 
tion that God gave to the first man and propagated it 
through tradition in all men, and by a force wholly 
divine is maintained independently of man's limited 
intelligence and corruption of heart. 

The presumptuous and impious assert that eternal 
punishment cannot be reconciled with the infinite good- 
ness of God. We have a satisfactory reply to this false 
teaching in the language of the rich glutton who was 
condemned to hell on account of his harsh and un- 
merciful treatment of poor Lazarus. 

From the days of David to our time men were found 
who had no other principle save that of error, no other 
logic save that of their passions, and accordingly at- 
tempt to draw from the divine attributes an argument 
that would place in doubt the divine threats, but the 
rich glutton refutes their reasoning. Abraham, from 
whom he craves a slight relief, an insignificant allevia- 
tion of his torments, announces to him in clear terms, 
that every form of communication from hell to heaven 
is impossible, and that he must suffer the same tor- 
ments for all eternity. What does the rich glutton 
say when he hears this dreadful announcement? He 
looks on his miserable state in despair and confusion, 
deplores his blindness, and expresses a wish that others 
may not follow his example. He does not get angry 
with God, or make a complaint against any of His 



190 The Messiah's Message 

divine attributes. Does it not seem strange that he 
seeks for some relief instead of asking for a shortening 
of the time of his suffering? He implores that his 
friends may be warned of his torment in order that 
they may not suffer similarly, but does not ask that he 
be liberated from his prison of pain. The first, there- 
fore, to acknowledge the reasonableness of everlasting 
punishment are the reprobates who are the victims of 
it. God's goodness, therefore, is not challenged, but 
on the contrary, is recognized to be conformable and 
compatible with the eternity of punishment. 

The Incarnation, the passion, and the death of the 
Son of God for the love of man, was an act of infinite 
mercy, an infinite remedy that supposed in man some 
sort of an infinite misery, an infinite evil incurred by 
him through sin, and therefore supposes an eternal pun- 
ishment. Because if the object of redemption was to 
liberate man from a purely transitory and finite evil, it 
would be impossible to comprehend, or admit, why 
an Infinite God should die for him, but from the fact 
that an Infinite God died for the salvation of man, we 
are constrained to admit that the offense committed by 
man was infinite in some degree. Now the principles 
of right reason require that there should be a just, 
equitable proportion between crime and its punish- 
ment, therefore the infinite malice in the sin of man 
calls for retribution in some manner infinite. But 
such retribution cannot be infinite in intensity, because 
the creature man is incapable of an infinite effect, 
therefore it must be infinite in duration. Hence the 



'Eternal Punishment 



pains of hell, that they bear a just proportion to man's 
rebellious act against God, must be eternal. 

In sin two things have to be considered, its relation 
to God, and its relation to creatures. Sin under the 
first aspect implies an infinite disorder, and conse- 
quently is an act of measureless malice, for it is an 
insult against a Being of infinite dignity; it is an out- 
rage against an Infinite Majesty, and a supreme con- 
tempt of the Law-giver and His divine laws. Sin 
considered under the second aspect, that is, in its rela- 
tion to creatures, which the sinner prefers to God, is 
evidently finite, because the creatures are finite, and 
this is the reason why the punishment of sin should 
be both finite and infinite. It is finite in its intensity, 
and thus it can be proportionate to the guilt of the 
creature, the sinner, but it is infinite in duration, with- 
out which there would not be the required proportion 
between crime and its punishment. Take away, then, 
the dogma of eternal punishment, and the dogma of 
the Incarnation and the death of the Son of God tot- 
ters to its base, the doctrine of the economy of re- 
demption, the whole edifice of Christianity would 
crumble to pieces. There is no repugnance, therefore, 
between the eternity of punishment and the infinite 
goodness of God, but, on the contrary, a natural and 
legitimate consequence, because God is, and has al- 
ways shown Himself infinitely good to man. When, 
therefore, man by his ingratitude does not wish to 
recognize his God, when he does not wish to profit by 
the infinite love of Jesus Christ, when he does not wish 



192 



The Messiah's Message 



to obey His Gospel, has, relatively to the offended 
Deity, an infinite malice and therefore merits an eter- 
nal punishment. 

In the other life the two societies are divided by an 
infinite distance. " Between us and you, there is a 
fixed, a great chaos." So that no one of the blessed 
can descend to hell, nor any one of the damned ascend 
to heaven. We have in this world the cities of Jerusa- 
lem and Babylon, the cities of God and the devil, the 
society of the just and sinners in close proximity; 
there is communication between them, and therefore 
it is possible to pass from one to the other, because 
as the principles of error, of corruption, of which the 
city of the devil is the depositary, can work upon the 
just and change them into sinners, so in like manner 
can the principles of truth, of sanctity, of grace, of 
which the city of God is the depositary, by means of 
the preaching of the Gospel, and through the sacra- 
ments, work on sinners, and change them into the 
just. During this life, then, as there is not one just, 
no matter how holy he may be, who may not become 
a sinner, so on the other hand, there is not one sinner, 
no matter how perverse he may be, who may not be- 
come just. Although every soul in sin may be in the 
strict sense separated from God, nevertheless, it apper- 
tains in some way to God during the present life. He 
preserves a relationship, a secret affinity with God, 
because through the Church, which is present and visi- 
ble to all, he can expiate his crime and receive pardon ; 
he can know God and be illumined by Him ; he can be 
repentant and become full of grace; he can love God 



Eternal Punishment 



193 



and be loved by Him ; he can be restored to the order 
established by God and reenter and be received into 
the society of God. But in the other life, there is no 
possible communication between the city of God and 
the city of the devil, because of the chaos, because of 
the infinite distance that divides them. " Between us 
and you there is a fixed, a great chaos." As no im- 
pure breath can rise from hell to darken the serene 
atmosphere of heaven, so in like manner not even one 
drop of water which the rich glutton demands, and 
which has been denied to him can descend to change 
his condition, to bring him solace in the midst of his 
torments in hell. From the precious and ineffable 
fountain of the Blood of the Saviour, at which all 
sinners on earth can drink, not one drop from this 
fountain will fall on sinners in hell to save them. And 
for this reason the Church is continually crying out 
that the redemption of Jesus Christ so rich, so copious, 
so abundant, so efficacious on earth, has no effect in 
hell; and souls once located in either of these places 
can never change their condition or their abode ; none 
of the blessed can become one of the damned, nor 
one of the reprobate can become one of the blessed; 
eternal is the punishment of the damned, as eternal is 
the bliss of the blessed. 

In the gospel narrative of the condemned glutton we 
find the true image, the correct idea of eternal punish- 
ment. It is often asked what is eternity? and the 
reply comes that one cannot form a true conception, 
much less explain it. It is He alone, the Eternal 
Judge, who can reveal to us a true conception of it. 



194 



The Messiah's Message 



This true image, this correct conception, He has given 
us when He said it was a great and immovable chaos 
placed there between heaven and hell by God Him- 
self. Chaos is denned by interpreters as an abyss, an 
immense, dark, fathomless pit, having no limit to its 
circumference, no bottom to its profundity, it signifies 
a shoreless ocean, a distance without an end* a line 
without an extremity, a heap comprised of things all 
in confusion and all in horror. See, therefore, what 
suitable language God uses to express space without 
a limit, an idea of years without number, of duration 
without an end, of time without measure. In vain 
would be the attempt to group numbers by the aid of 
reckoning, in vain would the mind attempt to travel 
over all distances, in vain would the imagination pierce 
all space to form an idea of eternity. Look into the 
depths of hell and imagine one of the damned to shed 
one tear every thousand years, and that God would 
preserve these tears until the whole universe would be 
inundated, and that then, let us suppose, God would free 
that soul. In such an hypothesis Juda would have shed 
only two tears, Esau three, and Cain only one. What 
millions and millions of years would pass before this 
church would be filled, what ages would elapse before 
this city, this state, this country, this world, this uni- 
verse, the space between our earth and the sun, and 
the remotest planet. To fill the universe with tears 
comes within the range of possibilities, but to fill 
chaos is impossible. This hypothesis desolates the 
mind, it sinks into despair in its attempted calculation ; 
• and if such a proposition could be made to the damned, 



\Eternal Punishment 



195 



what rejoicing would ring in the dark dungeons of 
,hell. And why? No matter how incomprehensible 
the unaccountable number of ages may be, some day 
there will come an end. Through the thick mist of 
time one pale ray, one sickly glimmer of hope would 
shine. But no, not even if the universe had been in- 
undated a thousand times over, would there be a hope 
of redemption. Eternity would only be commencing. 
How long, therefore, must the damned suffer? Al- 
ways. When shall their punishment cease? Never. 
Since they have been condemned by the justice of God 
they have suffered. How will they fare in the future ? 
Suffer. The past does not benefit them, the present 
does not help them, the future has no promise. Oh, 
unfruitful past! Oh, bitter present! Oh, desperate 
future! The revolution of the heavenly bodies divide 
day and night, and cause the seasons to succeed each 
other in regulated rotation ; with geometrical precision 
it compiles the years and measures time, but in eternity 
the spheres remain fixed, immovable, motionless. The 
heavens are riveted in their poles, the planets sealed in 
their orbits, all measurement ceases, division and vari- 
ation of time disappear. There is no sun but the sun 
of divine justice, and that sun never sets. Perpetual 
darkness, perpetual misery. 

" Let man," says St. Anselm, " go up into the 
judgment seat of his mind and set himself before his 
own eyes, and when he has set up judgment in his 
heart, let his thoughts accuse him, and his conscience 
be his witness ; and let fear be his executioner. Then 
let the blood of the soul flow in tears on his confes- 



196 



The Messiah's Message 



sion. Let the image of the future judgment stand 
before his eyes, and whatever he sees in himself that 
the Judge to come would reprehend and punish let 
him punish in himself. For whether sins be little or 
great, they cannot be passed over un judged and unpun- 
ished. They must be either condemned and punished 
by the mob, or be judged and avenged by God. But 
the divine vengeance is stopped when the man is con- 
verted, for if we judge ourselves we shall not be 
judged ; by which we understand that we must be pun- 
ished in this life or in the life to come." 



FAITH 



" Go, wash in the pool of Siloe, which interpreted, Sent, He 
went therefore, and washed, and he came seeing." — John 9, 7. 

When we look at an object some distance away, we 
see it but very indistinctly. But if we use a telescope 
the mechanism of the telescope conquers space and 
brings the object so apparently near, that its features 
and outlines become most distinct. No matter how 
close we view a drop of water we can't detect even 
one of the millions of infusoria contained in it, but 
let us look at it through a microscope, and to our 
amazement we can count myriads of these living ani- 
mals floating in it. Now what the telescope and 
microscope are to the eye, faith is to reason. Reason 
has a much shorter range and a weaker insight into 
the ways of God than faith. Reason conducts to the 
door of faith and there delivers us up to a safer guide, 
a more sublime teacher who opens up a prospect be- 
yond the range of the unassisted eye of reason. Faith 
gives to reason a light to correct its errors, and enables 
it to enter with wondering eyes into the revelation of 
God. 

When the light of faith descends on the light of 
reason, it transforms the soul. It is like the light of. 
the sun stealing on the light of the moon, which must 

i97i 



198 The Messiah's Message 

give way as the sun ascends higher in the heavens. 
When we view things in moonlight they appear strange 
and phantom-like, but when sunlight comes these de- 
lusions and shadows are dissipated. In like manner, 
our memory, understanding and will when bathing in 
this supernatural light become so illumined with its 
luster that the heavenly mysteries draw nigh to us, 
and their knowledge perfects our knowledge of earthly 
truths. With its light there is no longer any doubting. 
The faculty of reason is so strengthened that it has 
no longer need to pause and hesitate or waver, it is 
saved from shipwreck by faith. And as the sun does 
not rob the moon of its light, neither does faith rob 
reason of its light, nor oppress our liberty, just as the 
telescope draws the material objects to our vision with- 
out depriving the faculty of seeing of any of its 
power. Man's intellect is allied to faith; he cannot 
divorce it. When the rationalist abandons faith for his 
own reason, he only abandons faith in the divinely 
mysterious for faith in the mysteriously absurd. 

With the exception of the Blessed Virgin, and the 
Apostles who were endowed with special graces, and il- 
lumined with a singular perfection of faith, the faith of 
the children of Israel was defective and wanting. 
Nathaniel had to enter into discussions before he be- 
lieved. The chief of the Synagogue did not believe 
that Jesus Christ could work miracles unless He was 
corporally present. Martha, although she believed 
that Christ could cure the infirm, yet she did not be- 
lieve that He could raise the dead to life. The Israel- 
ite people would not listen to Christ preaching His 



Faith 



199 



heavenly doctrine until they had seen the miracles of 
the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, hence our 
Lord rebuked them in these words, " You don't be- 
lieve unless you see signs and prodigies." In the 
Centurion, however, a military officer, a pagan, with- 
out subjecting his mind to a course of reasoning, 
without seeing a miracle, believes, and adores Christ 
as God. 

The most beautiful, the most gracious, and the most 
necessary of inanimate things is light. Because, what 
would this world be without light? No other than 
a prison of horrors in which man and animals would 
be chained in the fetters or profound darkness, and 
would of necessity become extinct. In vain would 
the Creator have created all things unless He lit up 
their home with an everlasting lamp. Hence He com- 
menced by creating light first in order to illumine the 
stupendous series of prodigious creation. And ever 
since, the sunbeam has been torn into rays and every 
ray tasked to tell of its ministry. Nature has an- 
swered to some of the interrogations, for we have a 
universal voice passing over all the earth, echoed from 
animal to animal, from plant to plant, proclaiming 
that every function of animal and vegetable life is due 
to the spirits of the sun. 

In this material light we see mysteriously and pro- 
phetically shining a far more noble and more precious 
light, the spiritual light of faith, the knowledge of 
God which has risen with particular brilliancy at the 
dawn of man's redemption. And as the natural light 
that illumines bodies is a reflex of the face of God the 



200 The Messiah's Message 



Creator, in like manner in the light that lights up 
the caverns of the soul have we a reflex from the face 
of God, the Redeemer. The prodigy of this divine 
light that had illumined the world by the preaching of 
the gospel was prophesied by the prophet Isaias when 
he said, " The people that sat in darkness hath 
seen a great light, and to them who sat in the region 
of the shadow of death a light has sprung up." 
Faith is to man what the sun's light and warmth are 
to the world. If the sun turns away its rays from the 
earth, streams will cease to flow, and vegetation will 
cease to grow, and the soil will become inert and life- 
less, wrapt up in impenetrable darkness. So is it 
with the soul that is without faith; it becomes dark- 
ened and chilled in its own shadows. 

This gift of faith is beautifully illustrated in the 
miracle of our Lord giving sight to him who was 
born blind. When our Lord was instructing the 
Jews in the temple, telling them among many other 
things, the eternity of His origin, and revealing to 
them in clear and precise terms His divinity, they were 
so obstinate in recognizing this remarkable revela- 
tion of His divinity that they threatened to stone 
Him to death. The blindness of their minds was so 
dense that our Lord Himself could not penetrate 
it. Christ seeing their stubbornness and obstinacy 
left the temple; and when outside on the public 
thoroughfare He met with one who was born blind, 
as if Providence had so arranged the coincidence that 
a contrast might be made between the poor blind 
man, corporally blind from his birth, and the Jews 



Faith 



20 1 



spiritually blind, who could not see with the eyes of 
faith the divinity of the Nazarene who was now 
about to give a grand proof of that divinity. 

Come with me in spirit to the Synagogue to learn 
there from a poor blind man true fortitude, true 
courage in confessing his belief in Jesus Christ. 
The Jewish Sanhedrin was composed of all that was 
most powerful in the nation. In it were the chief 
high priest, the ecclesiastic princes, the seventy sena- 
tors judges of life and death, the scribes or inter- 
preters of the law, the Pharisees surrounded by a 
crowd of insolent followers, who breathed hatred 
against Christ and those who would speak well of 
Him. The infamous conspiracy that hatched death 
to Him became so open that whoever dared to say 
that Christ was the Messiah was exposed to excom- 
munication by the Synagogue. Consequently a panic 
of fear prevented the people from openly professing 
that they were His followers. Before this tribunal 
Sidonio was summoned, and was asked how he re- 
ceived his sight. " Christ," he said, " put clay upon 
my eyes, and I washed and I see " ; and they con- 
tinued, " What sayest thou of Him that hath opened 
thy eyes ? " and he said, " He is a prophet. ,, This 
public profession of the man that was blind filled 
the Pharisees with rage, and in order to confute his 
evidence, they sent for his parents with a view to 
see if they could discover from them anything that 
would serve them to contradict him. The parents 
came; and listen to the vacillating and equivocating 
manner of the parents who trembled with fear that 

14 



r 



202 The Messiah's Message 

if they acknowledged the great act of beneficence done 
by Christ to their son in giving him sight, they might 
compromise their position and offend the Synagogue. 
" All we know," they said, " is that this is our son, 
and that he was blind, but how he now seeth, we know 
not; ask himself, he is of age, let him speak for 
himself." The Jews called him again, and said to 
him, " Give glory to God, we know this man is a 
sinner," meaning Christ. The blind man became now 
outspoken. In fact he was determined to defend 
Jesus Christ, and would not listen to them calum- 
niating him. " If he be a sinner, replied the blind man, 
I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was 
blind, now I see." And persisting in their interro- 
gations, they again asked him, what did He do to 
thee, how did He open your eyes? And the blind 
man became more courageous. " I told you before, he 
said, why do you want to hear it again? Will you 
also become His disciples ? " This was the climax. 
The Jews reviled him, but before he left them he 
gave them one parting shot. The Jews addressing 
Sidonio said, " You be His disciple if you wish, but 
we are the disciples of Moses, but as to this man 
we know not from whence he is." Then came a reply 
from the blind beggar that penetrated the very soul 
of his revilers and stung them. " Why herein is a 
wonderful thing, that you know not from whence 
He is. From the beginning of the world, it hath 
not been heard, that any man hath opened the eyes 
of one born blind. Unless this man were of God, 
He could not do anything." When he uttered these 



Faith 



203 



words, they took hold of him and threw him out. 
Christ had heard of the treatment that Sidonio re- 
ceived from the Pharisees and He sought him, and 
having found him, He said to him, " Dost thou be- 
lieve in the Son of God? and he answered and said, 
Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him? and 
Jesus said to him, thou hast both seen Him, and it 
is He that talketh with thee. And the blind man 
replied, I believe Lord, and falling down he adored 
Him. And Jesus continuing said, I am come into 
this world that they who see not, may see, and they 
who see may become blind." 

In the action of the parents of the blind man is 
a picture which we can view every day in those timid 
souls who through human respect wish to stand well 
with their fellow men at the sacrifice of their faith; 
who lack the courage to stand up for Christ ; who es- 
teem gold more valuable than virtue; who make 
peace on dishonorable terms; who in the dim twi- 
light of their belief scuttle the great ship upon which 
their own little bark is carried. We see human re- 
spect every day in the busy scenes of life. It con- 
sists in nothing more than a desire to stand well 
with, and to gain the approval of men as the great 
object of life to which all things must take a subordi- 
nate place. It is not wrong to seek the approval of 
men, for God Himself tells us not to hide our light, 
but let it shine before men, that they may see our 
good works. But when we look no further than the 
esteem of men to which everything else must give 
place, then we ramble away from our true destina- 



; 

204 The Messiah's Message 

tion. For nothing intoxicates us more than the 
breath of public esteem and the consciousness of in- 
fluence. When conscience or duty conflict with 
human estimation, the right principle may give way 
and the wrong one prevail. Should this occur, then 
we become slaves of public opinion and human re- 
spect, and we are unable to rise higher than the 
plane on which moves the influence of the world. 

We have the Scribes and Pharisees with us to-day 
in the proud men who wish to be classed as scien- 
tific and literary savants. There exists in the minds 
of this class a perpetual pressure urging them to 
disseminate their teachings, and, there is on the other 
hand, on the part of the people, a corresponding 
thirst to drink thereof. Men of letters of an infidel, 
school are men of theory, and their hypothetical rea- 
soning is seldom measured by the standard of prac- 
tical experiment. Their pride lifts them higher 
than their fellow men, and this fictitious mental 
superiority forces them to arrogate to themselves a 
form of infallibility, and no herald of the Gospel, 
or no soldier in the battlefield, hungered with more 
avidity to secure conquests, as the proud literary and 
scientific man. The teachings of such men choke 
and dry up intellectual vegetation in the flying sands 
of materialism, and that which should appear verdant 
wears a languid, parched and shriveled look. Let 
us take a young man who is guided by certain prin- 
ciples, who believes in God and His divine attributes. 
He has a wish to study a profession to which phy- 
siological science is preparatory. While his studies 



Faith 



205 



progress in this department his knowledge of religion 
or theology is stationary. In his early studies he 
was taught that life was a gift from the Creator, 
but now the Pharisee in the chair tells him that life 
and motion must be traced to another cause, that 
life is dependent on certain stimuli such as heat, 
light and electricity. The scientific knowledge of this 
young aspirant grows into maturity, but his religious 
knowledge is that of his boyhood. He concludes, as 
he progresses in his scientific studies, that he has 
discovered something that he did not know before. 
This new knowledge pushes out that which he 
learned when younger, evicts by degrees his 
earlier teachings, and as he advances he drinks deeper 
draughts from the pleasing spring; he finds out other 
causes of the effects he sees in life, and the conceit 
of this discovery hides from him the fact that these 
causes are themselves effects; he personifies abstrac- 
tions and deifies nature. Here lies the great danger 
that confronts the youth of a nation. How many are 
there who with only the smattering of a little knowl- 
edge acquired at some school, whose theology is that 
of profane philosophers, whose doctrines are limited 
by the boundary of romance, whose erudition is the 
snapshot from an encyclopedia, yet boast of knowing 
things better than the colossal minds of an Augustine, 
a St. Thomas, a Newman, or a Newton; they look 
upon the Gospel narrative with as much levity as 
a page from mythology that tells something about 
Venus or Jupiter. They say the mysteries of re- 
ligion are too abstruse and contradictory to reason, 



206 



The Messiah's Message 



its moral too severe; they condemn fast days, absti- 
nence, discredit the religious profession, deride pious 
practices, and burlesque chastity and charity. They 
believe that no one can teach them, they are stone 
blind; they see not although they live and bask under 
the meridian splendor of the truth. They are inex- 
cusably blind, and therefore blindness and sin form 
that punishment which Christ spoke of to the Phari- 
sees, when He said, " But now you say, we see. 
Your sin remaineth." 

If to gain a position a young man has not the 
courage to profess his religion, although from the 
springtime of his life he preserved undimmed the light 
of faith, but now entering society he finds his faith 
derided, and if he practices it he will be called an 
effeminate devotee, and that it is not manly to be 
a church-goer, and if the passport to obtain that posi- 
tion is a diploma that you have no religion, a man who 
sails under these colors is an arrant coward and un- 
worthy of the name of man. If he be such a coward, 
and crouches through fear of being gibed at, look at 
him represented in the parents of the blind man. 
But if he be courageous enough to look with con- 
tempt on the sneers and banter ings of the modern 
Scribes and Pharisees, he is vividly represented in the 
conduct of the blind man to whom our Lord gave 
sight. 

If our faith be languid and sickly. If it pulsates 
with little life. If it be a faith held on by a slender 
chord, a faith oppressed and obscured by clouds of 
darkness emanating from a corrupt heart. If that 



Faith 



207 



be the kind of faith that any of us should have, let 
us go to the school of our Divine Master and there 
learn the lesson that will soon correct us. There we 
can drink in those deep draughts of knowledge and 
wisdom that will extinguish our pride, and show us 
how to plumb the shallow depths of our nothingness. 
It is in this school the law-giver finds the sanction 
and stability of his institutions. It was in this the 
philosophers, poets and orators of the Roman and 
Grecian worlds found the basis of social order. It 
was in this school historians learned to trace the vicis- 
situdes of nations to the hand of God. Bards found 
in faith and religion fountains for their liveliest 
charms. Poets like Dante and Milton received from 
faith inspirations to versify their sublime thoughts, 
and architects raised cathedrals, real poems in 
stone, where the glories of God are sung. It was 
at the shrine of faith that painters and sculptors like 
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Domenichino, Leonardo 
da Vinci, and Rubens, found that which directed 
their chisel and brush in the world's great master- 
pieces of art. What is it that makes the home a 
miniature of heaven but FAITH ! 

The entire history of the Catholic Church written 
with tears and blood record the effects of faith on the 
soul. It defied and triumphed over all the horrible 
ingenuities of human cruelty, the indescribable agon- 
ies of the rack, the cauldrons of boiling oil and pitch, 
the lambient flames from the burning fagots. It 
robed with the crimson robe of martyrdom noble 
tribunes like Quirinus, brave captains of the im- 



208 



The Messiah's Message 



perial guard like Sebastian, valiant generals like 
Placidus, chaste and tender virgins like St. Agnes 
who refused nuptials with a Roman Prince de- 
claring that she had already a suitor in Jesus Christ. 
What but faith strengthened St. Prisca, a little girl 
of thirteen years who faced the most excruciating 
torments! It sustained the aged Simeon, bishop of 
Jerusalem. St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch in the 
hours of martyrdom, and the weakly frame of 
Blandina who was tortured so long that her cruel 
tormentors grew tired. 

The loathsome dungeons of the Mamertine prison, 
the Roman arena, recall to our memory the bloody 
days of persecution under Nero and his successors, 
when for upwards of three hundred years they were 
a wine-press of martyrdom, where the aged, deli- 
cate women, feeble children embraced with unflinch- 
ing courage the most painful and most terrible 
deaths. Down in the pitchy gloom of the catacombs 
the rude slab, the palm, the crown, the little phial of 
blood blushing with its crimson treasure, and the 
thrilling monograms reveal to us what sufferings the 
martyrs of old have undergone as they bent their 
heads under the lictor's ax in defense of their faith. 

It is not necessary to travel back so far on the 
corridors of time, for modern history confronts us 
with heroism as valiant as that of old. During the 
Calvinistic movement in France we stand dazed at 
the awful wreck of souls suffering for the faith. 
Within forty years of carnage, vandalism and blood- 
shed no less than five thousand priests and members 



Faith 



209 



of religious orders suffered martyrdom. In the 
days of the French Revolution faith bathed the 
streets of Paris to such an extent with the blood of 
the noblest lives that special sewers were constructed 
to carry away their blood. On one occasion three 
hundred innocent children, orphans of those already 
murdered, were cast into the river Loire, the mob 
crying out, " Down with the brats, they are the eggs 
of the reptile." 

In the days of Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth, 
the rack seldom stood idle in the Tower of London. 
Faith brought down the ax on the neck of Thomas 
Moore and the saintly Bishop Fisher, and thousands 
of others who laid down their lives as a sacrifice to 
truth and Christian faith. And when that inhuman 
blood-thirsty persecutor, Oliver Cromwell, landed on 
Irish soil with his army of Ironsides, he sought to 
destroy catholicity, but he failed. The scaffold, the 
rack, confiscation of property had no effect to 
estrange the Irish people from their ancient faith. 
It was this virtue that crowned with martyrdom 
Dermot O'Hurley, archbishop of Cashel, Richard 
Creagh, archbishop of Armagh, and Patrick O'Healy, 
bishop of Mayo, and thousands of others whose 
blood crimsoned the green grass of Irish soil in de- 
fense of their altars. 

Where is the observer that could pass along the 
road of life and not be rapt in admiration of the 
consecration of womanhood to relieve the poor and 
afflicted and whisper Christian love in the ears of 
human misery! There is sin in the world, there are 



210 



The Messiah's Message 



false steps in life, there is human distress surcharg- 
ing the atmosphere in every age and in every clime, 
there is therefore a mission for charity. While the 
votaries of the world go on whirling in the whirl of 
giddy pleasure, we see ladies severing every tie that 
bound them to the world, who look on its fashion and 
beauty as so much butterfly colors; touch them and 
they crumble to dust. These ladies divest themselves 
of the world's shimmering brilliances and put on 
a coarse garb and the meekness of the Saviour of 
Bethlehem. Their character is the purest, their 
benevolence is the sweetest of woman. What is 
their mission? Some take up the wastrels from the 
evils of a misspent life, present to their lips the 
cup of kindness, lift off the heavy weight of despair 
that is crushing their souls, and point to them the 
emblem of mercy represented on the crucifix. Oh, 
what a change ! What peace and consolation do their 
gentle whispers bring to the poor derelict; the tur- 
bulent soul is soothed and calmed. The aged and 
decrepit are despised by the world, they are so much 
human waste, fit only to be dumped on humanity's 
scrap heap. No one wants them, no one cares for 
them, let them die. The little sister of the poor 
takes them to her home, and tramps from door to 
door questing food and raiment to feed them and 
cover their shivering limbs out of her poverty basket. 
Others like angels of mercy seek the homeless and 
shelter them. The father and mother are in their 
cold grave, and the child is a waif on the waves of 
a cold and pitiless world; the sister of charity throws 



Faith 



211 



her mantle of love around it and warms its little 
heart. She mingles with the flotsam and jetsam, the 
scum and the refuse along the highways of the world, 
and to this ragged fringe of humanity she brings 
comfort, consolation and salvation. See her in the 
battlefield spurning all danger amid shot and shell; 
under the dim cloud of battle binding up the wounds 
of a bleeding soldier, and in the hospital nursing 
back to life the shattered form of chivalry. All 
forms of disease, no matter how loathsome, or viru- 
lent, has the ministrations of these ministering 
angels. Should we not therefore worship the inspira- 
tion that animates such noble souls? I ask what is 
the motive that actuates these sweet messengers of 
love? Faith in Him who is the fountain of all love. 



INFIDELITY 



Between God and man there exists a certain rela- 
tion. They are united by some bond. This is a 
truth we are constrained to admit when we come to 
exercise our moral and intellectual powers. This 
bond is of a very slender nature, its texture is very 
delicate with some, the constant friction of the world 
has worn it threadbare. With others the strain be- 
came too powerful and it snapped and left man an 
exile, and while wandering in the thickets of his wild 
ideas he traveled so far in devious paths that he 
became lost, and forgettting all about God and the 
relationship between them, he came to the conclusion 
that this Being called a Deity, and the cult or wor- 
ship paid to Him called religion was an invention 
from an overheated imagination, some puerile myth, 
a superstitious obscurity, a creation of an effeminate 
mind. He becomes, in fact, an infidel. 

From this relationship God has certain rights, and 
He will not give them up. There is a kind of con- 
tract between God and man, it is an irrevocable con- 
tract, and God's signature is there in His image and 
in His likeness. But man's signature is almost ob- 
literated by his concupiscences. When man's reason 
becomes vitiated it has tremendous auxiliaries in the 
weakness of the will and the perversity of the heart. 

212 



Infidelity 



213 



The consequence is that a disorder is produced in the 
soul. 

There is an old saying in these words, " Would 
that we could see ourselves as others see us." In 
other words if we could see ourselves as others see 
us we might check in no small way our defects and 
endeavor to rectify and strengthen our conduct; we 
might see a hope of straightening our deformed soul. 

It does not require much instruction to know that 
when we love any one thing or another, we are 
anxious to know everything about it, and the more 
knowledge we acquire about it, the greater becomes 
the incentive to love it with a stronger love, and 
make it the object of our love and affection. But 
when we look into ourselves we find this to be the 
very contrary, for the more we love ourselves the 
less anxious are we to know ourselves. " Self-love 
has no zeal for self-knowledge." Now what is it that 
prevents us from seeing ourselves? The concu- 
piscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, 
and the pride of life. They draw us away from 
ourselves. These mental and corporal pleasures 
increase the difficulties of self-knowledge, and by 
their stainings blur the beautiful mirror of the soul, 
— the conscience of the soul — where we should see 
our features reflected back. 

The world is a world of enchantment that either 
wakes up the drowsy, or makes us dream a dream 
of unequaled loveliness. There is no doubt but we 
feel some great magnet drawing us closer every day 
to the world. The secret lies in the magnificent 



214 



The Messiah's Message 



promises of pleasure, whether this pleasure be 
seated in pride, vain-glory, or wealth. Whether it 
be real or visionary, it creates that for which we 
hunger and thirst, and we, avowedly, feel a keener 
appetite for it than the bee for the honey, the stag 
when exhausted for the rushing brook, the blinded 
moth for the burning light. We quaff this cup of 
pleasure to its dregs, think of its appetizing effects, 
revel in its bloating qualities that we may thirst the 
more. This is the ordinary history of man to-day 
in no matter what station of life we seek him. The 
general rule that directs men's actions is self. Go 
through that great web and woof of life and examine 
at every crossing the busy acts of men, and you will 
find each one brimful of the desire to seek his own 
self-interest. 

Take first the business man, he is so occupied with 
his commercial pursuits, his time is so absolutely 
absorbed in them that he will not suffer any intrusion 
on the part of conscience to disturb his daily routine of 
duty. His mind is so set upon commercial interests 
that he will not consent to anything that might draw 
him away from them, or reflect upon anything save 
that which bears upon that state. What is the 
trend of his dealings with his fellow men? Oftentimes 
it is filled with cares and hissing strife, replete with 
dishonesty and unjust trafficking, full of sullen sor- 
row, perpetual anxiety and worry ; notwithstanding all 
this he aims at one thing, Self. Self is the idol he 
worships. 

Take the political man who scruples not at the 



Infidelity 



21 5 



foulest intrigues, who creeps through the most hid- 
den and closest meshes of secret plots to gain his 
end, who bellows out to the public pledges already 
broken, who stoops to the lowest acts of servility 
in order to win the votes of the applauding public, 
and through them climb to power. What is his 
object in all this? Self. Self is the god he worships. 

But there is another concupiscence that stimulates 
the inordinate love of self against the laws of God, 
and the more fuel that is added to this fire the 
quicker are the laws of God burned out, and it burns 
on until every vestige of Him becomes extinguished, 
" a kind of moral earthquake takes place and every 
motive outside self is swallowed up in the blind 
gulfs of sensualism." The victims of this upheaval 
of the passions cry out, " Take away the command- 
ments of God, draw the pen across the decalogue and 
we will be Christians like you; permit us the free 
indulgence of our passions and we will attend church. 
Remove the austere teaching which you preach and 
give reward to pride and libertinism, to avarice and 
fraud, and we will worship at your altars. This is 
the gospel of the twentieth century. What conse- 
quences may we expect from such a gospel? First 
doubt, then no faith at all: rampant infidelity. Men 
of such professions chase away the remotest admission 
of religion, and become deaf to the voice of con- 
science. " 

Observe that youth who refuses to recognize the 
laws that are the buttresses of the human race, he 
turns to the philosophy of the world because its 



2l6 



The Messiah's Message 



decalogue permits and foments his depraved nature. 
Temperance and modesty are sneered at by him; he 
passes his life in a series of lascivious orgies. Look 
at him in his business avocations, is he one upon whom 
his employer can rely? Is he trustworthy? Is he 
honest? The strongest reasons convince us that he 
is as empty of good traits as good fruit, as the with- 
ering reed that grows in the swamp. A strict super- 
vision is necessary or he will fatten his pockets with 
his master's dollars. His god, too, is self. 

Observe that woman who worships the world as her 
religion, and the world's vanities as her household 
gods. She is ever seeking for that something that 
will feed the flame of her sinful disorders. Are her 
children obedient to her? No, for there is no 
obedience in infidelity. Is she pure? Why should 
she? Her religion is the religion of the flesh and not 
of the spirit; there is no virtue in infidelity. She 
abuses the beauty that God gave her, but it soon 
fades, and that she may prolong her apparent and 
fading beauty before the glare of the world's foot- 
lights she has need of cosmetics. There is no sacred- 
ness in her home. 

Observe the avaricious man, a poor starving crea- 
ture out of employment craves an alms to support his 
dying frame. Go away, I am an infidel, I have no 
faith, and infidelity does not teach charity, although 
the hands of that man are stiff and crooked from 
the very work that assisted in accumulating that rich 
man's wealth, yet he refuses to give a crumb to help 
him along on his weary way of hunger. Were I to 



Infidelity 



217 



go on my strength would fail me before I could 
reach the end of that long list of crimes committed 
under the name of infidelity. 

I am not overstating things. We are traveling 
at such speed on the road of worldly pursuits that our 
eyes can rest but very indistinctly on those objects 
nearest to the interests of our soul; we pass them 
as passengers on an express train pass the mile-pegs 
on the road, catching only a faint sight of them as 
we sweep by, while our eyes are fixed upon objects 
most remote. You see for yourselves the state of 
society to-day in this great century of progress. We 
are living in a world of the senses. Scan the morn- 
ing papers and you will see its sheets stained with 
blood through lust. Frequent the law courts and 
your ears will be shocked with filthy divorces. Go 
to the bookstall and you will discover that the vast 
majority of those there are of a composition pur- 
posely written to please and tickle our lower pas- 
sions, and the filthier the plot or composition is the 
greater the sale. The gospel of voluptuousness, of 
pride, and mammon takes the place of the gospel of 
cleanliness, of humility and charity. The moral of 
Epicurus and of Petronius surreptitiously ousted the 
moral of Jesus Christ, and a people once Christian 
have now descended to the depths of corruption, 
cynicism and the brutal manners of idolatry. 

One of the most poisoned wells to produce the 
stream of corrupt living is immoral literature. If 
our literature is immoral there is sufficient poison in 
it to vitiate a whole nation. It is the tree of good 

15 



2l8 



The Messiah's Message 



and evil. It bears not only fair and rich fruit, but also 
a fruit juicy with poison, and the library and bookstall 
become the repositories from which the public obtain 
supplies to inoculate society. They are the drug stores 
where the poisonous serum is obtained to inoculate 
society. " From this filthy pool flow those streams 
of immorality which the curious will read and the 
thirsty will drink though the cup and page be pol- 
luted/' This was the means adopted to sow the 
seeds of cockle preparatory to the greatest upheaval 
in modern times, the French Revolution. The 
philosophy of that revolution was a strenuous effort 
on the part of its leaders to wipe out God from the 
minds of the nation. And the heirs of Voltaire com- 
pleted their philosophical saturnalia with an invoca- 
tion to the goddess of reason, and to-day freethinkers 
who laugh at the prophecies of old, deify some 
strumpet fortune-teller. With such leaders of 
thought, and who have charge of the seed-plots, of 
education, what must we expect to emanate from the 
youth of a country? Logically they conclude that 
morality is only a smack of the palate by which we 
judge of the sweetness and sourness of things. What 
must be the consequences among the people of a 
nation who from their schools have learned that force 
and energy take the place of God, and that the moral 
law has to depend on what society wishes to make it? 
We must expect a complete dislocation of every joint 
in the whole framework of the nation. We have 
a living argument to-day to substantiate every word 
I say. Consider what is going on at this very moment 



Infidelity 



219 



in the city of Lisbon. Anarchy is supreme there and is 
exercising all its power, and what is the result ? Not 
only are churches and convents sacked and burnt to 
the ground, the sacred vestments torn to shreds, the 
sacred vessels melted down, the objects of ven- 
eration defiled, the priests and nuns murdered 
and exiled; but the public buildings plundered, men 
of position and rectitude in secular life sought out 
and robbed and gibbeted. The revolution is a cloak 
under whose cover the dagger is concealed to 
revenge hatred and spite. Anarchy, licentiousness, 
vice in all its heinous forms are the masters, 
Christ is again bound and buffeted in a sor- 
rowful Gethsemani, and the incarnate devil is sing- 
ing hosannahs in the city of Lisbon, the modern 
Jerusalem. And all this done in the name of liberty. 
But it is a liberty that means chains, bondage, slavery. 
No wonder that people from all nations leave a 
fatherland where the flag of liberty is crumpled up by 
bigotry, by selfishness, monopolizing laws, and 
tyranny, and as if called to the colors, flock to a new 
fatherland where the flag of liberty flaps freely in 
the breeze, a flag that looks down with contempt from 
her atmosphere of ethereal stars and loftiness upon 
these countries that have never soared so high in that 
serene air of freedom. And we members of our 
great church, the children of liberty, should not alone 
pray on one day of the week, but in the daily august 
sacrifice that never will that day of darkness come 
when the inky cloak of Satan would hang on the 
broad shoulders of this noble country, a country that 



220 



The Messiah's Message 



is now in the vanguard of civilization, and reveres 
in man that sacred and hallowed gift of God, the gift 
of liberty. 

What has infidelity ever done for a nation ? Where 
are its schools of learning? Where are its hospitals 
for the sick? Where are its asylums for the poor? 
Where are its refuges for the outcast? We see no 
such evidences of love for its fellow man. We see 
no monuments why we should so honor it. For it is 
the destroyer of morality, social order and liberty. 
Whenever it can pilfer the fruits of another's honest 
work it would do so unblushingly. Infidelity has no 
virtue, it prates of love, but with lips white with 
hate; it talks and shouts of liberty, but it desecrates 
it; when its liberty had power, it robbed man of it. 
" Specter-like it moves down the ages with Chris- 
tianity gibing and gibbering as monkeys in the 
equatorial regions bar and interrupt the advances of 
the civilized explorer." It enjoys the fruits of 
Christian civilization as the barnacle or parasite 
enjoys the vigorous health of a stronger organism. 
Infidelity is a deep-seated and corrosive malady that 
gangrenes society. When faith goes out skepticism 
comes in, and when skepticism and profligacy make 
their ominous march over a country, evil will abound 
and accumulate, hollow languor and vacuity will seize 
the minds of some, want and stagnation others. 



THE UNBELIEF OF THE WORLD 

The Israelite nation was the chosen nation of God. 
" I myself will govern it with my providence, and I 
will send my angels to bear it in their hands that it 
may not fall. I will be to it all prodigies, and it will 
witness to my omnipotence before this world." 
When it was homeless He drew it out of Egypt; 
when it suffered from hunger He fed it with bread 
from heaven; when it was thirsty He caused water 
to gush from the adamant rocks to quench its thirst. 
It hung its harps upon the willows of Babylon, and 
He ransomed it from its captivity. Israel was to pre- 
pare the world for the Messiah. We read His life 
in the prophecies before He was born. David said 
that He was the son of God and the son of man 
(Ps. 2. 7). The prophet Isaias said He would be 
born of a virgin (7. 14). The prophet Micheas 
said that He would be born in Bethlehem (5. 2). 
The prophet Aggaeus gives us the time of His birth 
(2. 8). The prophet Isaias introduces to us His 
precursor, St. John the Baptist (40. 3). The 
prophet Zecharias told us that He would be betrayed 
by one of His disciples and sold for thirty pieces 
of silver (n. 12). The prophet Zacharias speaks 
of His triumphal entry to Jerusalem (9. 9). David 
describes how He is misunderstood, despised, per.se- 

221 



222 



The Messiah's Message 



cuted and slain by His people (Ps. 21). The 
prophet Isaias foretold that He would suffer all kinds 
of insults in His passion, that He would be crowned 
with thorns, nailed to a cross, and His hands and feet 
would be pierced with nails (1. 6). David prophe- 
sied His resurrection from the dead (Ps. 15. 10). 
And His coming to judge the world was foretold by 
the prophets Joel and Malachy (2. 2), (3. 3). The 
prophet Joel also foretold the coming of the Holy 
Ghost (2. 28). Thus was the idea of the Messiah 
revealed to the people of Israel. These prophecies 
were so clearly fulfilled in Jesus Christ that we are 
obliged to look on them as His true biography. He 
had so lived in the minds of the prophets and Hebrew 
people that these prophecies were the true portraiture 
of the Messiah. 

Let us appeal to history and see what kind of re- 
ception the Messiah received from this chosen people 
of God. When Jupiter held the divine scepter of 
Pagan theology, and Caesar the scepter of human 
things, each assisting the government of the other, 
there arose an empire so gigantic that the world in its 
history records no other up to that time so powerful, 
so august, so transcendently grand. Other empires 
rose and fell crushed under the heels of the Caesars. 
All others had to bend beneath its yoke. The world 
lay crouching at its feet, and with hushed breath 
obeyed its despotism. At this time men were startled 
by the presence of angels sweeping through the heavens 
and in angelic notes singing hosannahs, proclaiming, 
" Glory to God and peace on earth to men of good 



THe Unbelief of the World 



223 



will." Men listened to this heavenly chant, and the 
first to understand it were shepherds who left their 
flocks and hurried to Bethlehem, and then to a stable 
to adore a little babe born of a virgin. This is the In- 
fant, they said, was the " Desired of nations," watched 
for by the patriarchs and prophets of old, and of 
whose victories the sybils sung. Then kings in their 
royal robes interpreting the voice of a star in the 
heavens followed a few days later on the track of the 
shepherds, and not allowing either the poverty of this 
Infant's mother, or His palace-stable to cause a doubt 
of His sovereignty or priestly prerogatives, they knelt 
down and adored Him as the promised Messiah. An- 
other few days elapsed; the mother and child entered 
the temple and an old sage taking the Infant in his 
arms, looked up to heaven with eyes bleared with 
tears and cried out, " O Lord, let me die now as I have 
seen Him who is destined to be the saviour of men." 
Twelve years later we get a glimpse of the wonder He 
excited among the learned doctors, disputing with 
them in the temple. As Heli bowed before the super- 
natural wisdom of little Samuel, so did the doctors of 
the law bow before the supernatural wisdom of the 
boy Christ. About thirty years passed and another 
voice was heard coming from an austere man living 
in the desert on locusts and wild honey, declaring that 
Christ is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins 
of the world. This Christ sowed miracles along His 
path, healing every disease and infirmity. These 
miracles were incontestable facts of His divinity. He 
showed by them that He had a direct and unlimited 



224 The Messiah's Message 

power over nature. All the elements obeyed Him. I 
command you to see, He said to the blind man, and 
the blind man saw. I command you to hear, He said 
to the deaf man, and the deaf man heard. I command 
you to speak, He said to the dumb, and the tongue 
of the dumb became relaxed, and he spoke. Oh, poor 
leper, be clean, He said, and the scales of leprosy fell 
from him. He looks into the heavens and stills the 
raging storm. He speaks to the turbulent waves of 
the sea tempestuously tossed by the winds and there 
is a dead calm. The devils of hell rushed back to their 
beds of fire at His very appearance. There was no 
doubt about it, He is their Master and they all obey 
Him. He is the King of the world. Crowds fol- 
lowed Him, and the multitude adored Him. All the 
elements obeyed Him with an unfaltering obedience 
as never seen before by men. The people of Israel 
were the principal factors in bringing to fulfillment the 
prophecies, and yet they failed to set these acts ap- 
plicable to the Messiah. In spite of all this testi- 
mony they did not know Him when He came among 
them. They ignored His miracles, rejected His warn- 
ings, broke into blasphemies, fell into idolatry, be- 
headed His holy prophets, and steeped its life in seeth- 
ing discord. 

Who will dare accuse me of sin? said Christ. It 
is not recorded that any one ever threw down such 
a challenge, no one ventured to pronounce such words 
since, and no man will ever be so bold as to repeat 
them in the future. While He was on earth He taught 
a doctrine as sinless as His sinless soul. It had no 



The Unbelief of the World 225 

blur nor blotch on it, nay, more, there was an aroma of 
sweetness about it so strong that the atmosphere of 
Judea and Galilee became redolent with it. There 
was a light from it like the soft and mellow light of a 
summer's morning dawn. When He spoke, His 
words were like arrows of love revealing divine truth 
that brought calm to troubled minds, and in spite of 
all this the people of Israel closed its eyes from the 
light, and turned its heart from His love, nay more, 
one of His associates betrayed Him, another denied 
Him, all abandoned Him, and the people finally cruci- 
fied Him. Yes, they say, He said that He was King, 
He said that He was the son of God, and when ar- 
raigned before Pilate He substantiated the report. 
Yes, I am King, I am the King of truth, but my king- 
dom is not of this world. I am the Son of God. 
Away with Him. Let Him be crucified, cried out this 
corrupt and weak judge, and amid the mockeries and 
insults of a frenzied rabble Christ was crucified. 
There was a lull ; there was a dead silence. It was the 
lull; it was the silence of Christ's sepulcher. But it 
was of short duration; it lasted only three short days. 
Jesus, the Nazarene, arose from His sepulcher, and 
what is almost incredible, even His beloved Apostles 
wavered in their belief in His resurrection when He ap- 
peared among them. Having instructed His apostles 
and founded the Church that was to perpetuate His 
mission, He ascended to His kingdom — to His 
Eternal Father from whom He came. 

When we look back at the history of Israel in its 
conduct towards the Messiah we are amazed at the 



226 



The Messiah's Message 



blindness of the Scribes and Pharisees. It is aston- ' 
ishing to read of the vehement opposition of the 
Scribes and Pharisees in the face of His miracles. 
This obstinacy is vividly portrayed in the history of 
the man born blind and gaining his sight. They ad- 
mitted the miracle, but sought every means to attribute 
it to anything but to Jesus Christ. Now if we ex- 
amine the conduct of the world to-day with reference 
to its conduct towards this same Messiah and His 
Church we are placed in a very ugly position, for we 
see more than the Scribes and Pharisees ever saw, be- 
cause we see not only what they saw, but we see the 
triumph of His doctrine, and therefore we are doubly 
blind. We see the halo of triumph that crowned the 
brow of Jesus when He arose from the dead, grow 
larger until it circled the whole world, and thereby 
supplying incentives to strengthen our faith and in- 
crease our merit, yet see how the world treats Him in 
His Church. The voice that came from the Cross 
sounded in every hall of the human conscience preach- 
ing peace, justice, and mercy. The mythology of 
Jupiter enthroned on Mount Olympus was substituted 
by the theology of the Crucified on Mount Calvary. It 
was a theology that seized man in both body and soul, 
teaching him what to believe, what to do, and how 
to pray. It is a theology that forms the indestructible 
foundation of human society, for Catholic dogma is 
the criterion of science, Catholic morality is the cri- 
terion of actions, and charity is the criterion of af- 
fections. Its stern and solemn voice is not content 
with a mere exhortation, but commands with an in- 



The Unbelief of the World 2.2.J 



flexible authority, and when it speaks, it puts beyond 
question all truths bearing on faith and morals. The 
constitution cannot exist without political authority, 
the family cannot exist without domestic authority. 
These are human, flexible, fallible ; there is need of an 
authority which should be supernatural, inflexible, in- 
fallible. An authority above these and with such 
power that when it spoke it could not be contradicted. 
An authority not built on shifting sands, at the mercy 
of human fluctuations, but on a rock so firm that no 
matter how tempestuous the waves of the restless sea 
of the world be, they cannot shake it. This authority 
was necessary, for if truth was exposed to the vain 
disputes of man, it would be soon so blurred as to be 
beyond all recognition. There never was a time, when 
there was not on earth a visible and speaking authority 
to which it was a duty to submit. Before Jesus 
Christ we had the Synagogue; when the Synagogue 
was disappearing we had Jesus Christ; when Jesus 
Christ ascended to heaven, His Church remained to 
which the Holy Spirit came. It won't do to say that 
we have His Word in the Bible, because it can be, and 
is handled and explained at pleasure, and makes no 
reply to those when misunderstood. We must have 
an external means, an assured means of removing 
doubts. This is His infallible Church, and since its 
institution the world has been saved from chaos, and 
has been a luminous beacon light to erring mariners 
on the boiling sea of the world of doubt. This Church 
represents human nature without sin just as it came 
from the hands of the Creator, full of original justice 



228 



The Messiah's Message 



and sanctifying grace, and must not be subject to 
death. From this it follows that the Church alone 
has the right to affirm and deny, and that there is no 
right outside her to affirm what she denies, or to deny 
what she affirms. When society forgets this truth 
and flies to human intellects puffed with pride, for a 
decision between truth and error, it enters into a land 
of shadows, and is governed by a fictitious scepter. 
Her mission is that of her divine Founder to pro- 
claim the truth, and anathematize error, to defend lib- 
erty when righteous and condemn it when wrongful, 
to defend it when authority becomes tyrannical, as 
well as when the subject strives to become entirely 
emancipated. If her voice defies authority, it does 
not do so at the sacrifice of the subject, for it blasts 
pride and domination in the opulent. If it condemns 
despotism it anathematizes rebellion and sanctifies 
obedience. And as long as time rolls and empires 
pass on, lost in the waves of time's great sea, the 
Church will continue to thunder this gospel. 

When Jesus Christ was laying the foundations of 
His Church and molding her into form, He, like the 
great prophets of old who foretold His own life, wrote 
for His disciples the life of His Church and placed 
it before their eyes. He foretold how the demons of 
hell would combine with the demons of the earth to 
trample on it and attempt to crush it. Its blood was 
to flow for dogs to lap, and its flesh to be torn to 
pieces to feed the croaking ravens, but He told them 
not to be discouraged, He would be with her, and in 
the end would place on her immaculate brow a wreath 



The Unbelief of the World 229 

of triumphal laurels. She throws down a challenge 
like her divine Founder. " Who will accuse me of 
error ? " But the world, like Pilate, hurries on in 
its wild career and does not wait to hear the truth 
from her lips. The halls of universities resound with 
eloquence in denouncing her; the oratory of sophists 
thrills students in search of truth, but when they are 
asked to listen to what she has to say about it they 
turn aside, and with pricked ears and rapt attention 
hail with applause whenever a poisoned arrow is shot 
at her. When they have to speak of her doctrinal 
tenets it is with irreverence, for they call her religious 
practices, superstition, and the learning of her teach- 
ers, monkish ignorance. Scientists with powerful in- 
struments look into cells and atoms of matter to de- 
tect something to give her a death-blow, but still she 
lives while they and their doctrines die and mold 
away. From her bosom sprang those monsters who 
attempted to devour her. The beautiful and seamless 
tunic she wears was woven in the looms of the super- 
natural, and her own children instead of seeking 
warmth in its capacious folds raise their irreligious 
hands and rend it. They strike the hand that cradled 
the days of their childhood, and forsake the hearth 
that was ever industrious to protect their infant inno- 
cence; like prodigals and wastrels they wander else- 
where to seek gross pleasures and impure loves. All 
this was foretold and yet the world does not see it. 
All other institutions crumble in time, because they are 
the offspring of time, but the institution founded by 
Christ is not limited or hemmed in by time or space. 



230 The Messiah's Message 

She knows not these boundaries, other institutions are 
human and must pass on as the garments of humanity 
wear out and decay; but the institution of Christ is 
super-human, is supernatural, its boundaries are not 
circumscribed by earthly limits, they extend into the 
kingdom of her Founder, which is not of this earth. 
The Catholic Church is not like other churches, or civ- 
ilizing influences, or civilizing institutions, which oc- 
cupy a spot in space and a moment in time, but is all 
time, is all space. Uncivilized tribes, cultured king- 
doms, corrupt hearts, rebellious intellects bow before 
her. All this the world sees, and yet it not only does 
not believe in her, but crucifies her as Israel crucified 
her divine Founder. 



PURGATORY 



When King Darius appointed Daniel and two other 
princes over his kingdom to govern his people, Daniel 
excelled the other two princes in his manner of gov- 
ernment. The king was so pleased with his adminis- 
tration that he thought it advisable to set him over the 
other princes, whereupon these plotted against him. 
They craftily suggested to the king that it was the 
general wish of all the magistrates, governors, and 
senators that an imperial decree be published to the 
following effect : " That whosoever shall ask any fa- 
vor of any god, or man, for thirty days, but of thee, 
O King, shall be cast into the lion's den." And the 
king, complying with their request, set forth this de- 
cree. When Daniel heard of the edict he opened the 
windows of his house that were looking towards 
Jerusalem, and knelt down three times during the day 
to pray and supplicate God. Wherefore these cruel 
and cunning plotters carefully watched Daniel, and 
informed the king that Daniel violated the decree. 
When the king heard of Daniel's violation of the law 
he was much grieved and troubled, and wished to de- 
fend him because he loved Daniel, but the plotters 
against him addressed the king, saying, " Know thou, 
O King, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, 
that no decree which the king hath made may be al- 

231 



232 The Messiah's Message 



tered." Then the king commanded that Daniel be 
brought before him in order to pass sentence on him, 
and when the king was ordering that he should be cast 
into the lion's den he said to Daniel, " Thy God whom 
thou always servest will deliver thee." Daniel was 
cast into the den of lions and left all night with these 
fierce animals, and the king's seal was put on the en- 
trance so that no one should dare attempt to rescue 
Daniel. The king was very much troubled and he 
retired to his palace in great grief. Next morning the 
king rose very early, and went Avith haste to the lion's 
den and cried out with an anxious and sorrowful voice : 
" Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God 
whom thou servest always, been able to deliver thee 
from the lions ? " And Daniel, answering the king, 
said, " O King, live forever. My God has sent his 
angel, and has shut up the mouths of the lions, and 
they have not hurt me." 

This Scriptural narrative which records a fact in 
ancient history, is a figure of God sending souls to 
Purgatory. " Go," He says to them, " there is an- 
other God who will release thee, and who will be thy 
liberator." This liberator is the prayer of the Church 
through us, which is like Moses constituted another 
great mediator in the gloomy Egypt of purgatory. 
Having received the power of applying the infinite 
merits of the Crucified, we can scatter them in abun- 
dance over that parching desert and alleviate their un- 
told sufferings, and inspire them with the hope that 
the promised land is near, and the fetters of their 
bondage will be speedily broken. 



Purgatory 



233 



The hope, therefore, of these souls is based on us; 
they cannot expect succor except from us. Their fate 
is in our hands. The sight of their pain cannot dis- 
arm the justice of God unless through our prayers. 
The source of their succor is not in heaven, but on 
earth. " Deus tuus liberabit te. Ecce constitui te 
Deum." What grandeur, what nobility lies in our 
ministry. We who are in need of protection are their 
protectors. We still in exile are powerful enough to 
lead them to their beloved fatherland. We can hasten 
the fulfillment of their happy destiny, while we are 
inert and passive with regard to our own. While 
still prisoners in the penitentiary of the body, we can 
batter down the wall that separates them from their 
God, and for whose presence they sigh. While still 
chained to the earth we can break the chains that im- 
pede their ascent to heaven. Like that omnipotent 
voice of God that will sound in every tomb and call up 
the dead to a new life, the voice of charity, of love 
speaking through our powerful assistance, echoing in 
that region of painful purgation will lead those suf- 
fering souls to an immortal life. Elevated above the 
angels, and constituted mediators between the justice 
and the mercy of God, we enjoy the prerogative of 
causing the divine mercy to be rained down upon these 
souls who are the victims of His divine Justice. 
" Deus tuus liberabit te. Ecce constitui te Deum." 

Society is the cordial union of intelligent beings 

united to each other through obedience to the same 

ruling power. And as a people who are separated 

from each other by reason of distance, diversity of 

16 



234 The Messiah's Message 



language, customs, manners and religion, and at the 
same time subject to the same governing authority, 
form a political society ; in a similar manner, although 
the distance may be immense, different may be the con- 
ditions between the souls of the three different states, 
viz., the souls of the elect in heaven, those voyaging 
on earth, and those in a state of expiation in purga- 
tory : nevertheless there is among them a religious so- 
ciety: this granted, all three in their different states 
love the same God, and in different ways participate in 
the results of the same Saviour-Mediator: form one 
family, one church of which God is the head, Jesus 
Christ the Mediator, and the bond that unites us all 
together. This is the doctrine of the communion of 
saints, which is nought else but the natural and reason- 
able law of the society of intelligent beings united to 
each other by means of the same grace and love, and 
by which we are fellow-citizens of the saints, domes- 
tics of heaven, and sons and heirs of God. Hence 
the excellence and beauty of our faith : because where 
proud infidelity discovers nothing beyond the grave; 
and stupid heresy sees nothing in death but insensi- 
bility, and the complete interruption of every tie be- 
tween those who die and those who live; the Catholic 
Church elevating our thoughts above the sensible, in 
the midst of the weeping tombstones of mourning she 
speaks to us the language of love; in the presence of 
the trophies of death she reminds us of eternal life 
to which we are all destined. Extending her clemency 
and tenderness to the needs of all she invokes the pat- 
ronage of the elect in heaven on behalf of her chil- 



Purgatory 



235 



dren who struggle on earth ; and here she implores the 
assistance of her children on earth for those who suf- 
fer in purgatory. For this reason she now and then 
opens the grave of the deceased, and over the remains 
and bleached bones of those who have already trav- 
eled on the road to eternity, she keeps vigil as a 
mother watches over her sleeping children. She pre- 
sents them to our corporal eyes that we may shed tears 
of pity, and recalls to our memory their bleeding souls 
that we may relieve them by our prayers and beseech 
the purifying effects of the blood of the Lamb to blot 
out those black marks that blotch and stain their souls, 
and thus being purified from every stain the prepara- 
tion is completed for the enjoyment of Him for whose 
presence they yearned. 

Since man commenced to die care for the sepulcher 
was an object of veneration and prayer, for the dead 
was part of his language. In all times, among all 
peoples, with all religions the voice of mankind was 
heard expressing belief that the dead can be relieved 
by the prayers of the living. In professing this tender 
truth we associate our belief with the belief of all 
ages. A few soldiers belonging to the army of Judas 
Machabeus had, contrary to the command of God, car- 
ried away from the temple of Jamma some objects 
consecrated to idols, and hid them under their coats 
during the course of a battle, in which they all trag- 
ically lost their lives. Their fault, which was looked 
upon as the cause of their death, was discovered when 
they were about to be buried. Judas Machabeus be- 
lieving that there were grounds for supposing either 



236 



The Messiah's Message 



that they were not sufficiently acquainted with the law 
to understand the grievousness of their transgression, 
or that they had repented of it in the sight of God be- 
fore breathing their last, ordered a collection to be 
made, and the silver to be forwarded to Jerusalem, 
that sacrifices might be offered for their sins. " He 
considered," says the Scripture, " that a great mercy 
is in store for those who die in piety. It is therefore 
a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, 
that they may be loosed from their sins." (2 Ma- 
chabeus.) Thus, among the Jews, it was believed a 
pious and salutary practice to offer sacrifices for the 
dead, that they might be freed from their sins. 

From Judaism it passed to Christianity. The Church 
has professed the doctrine of purgatory from her very 
cradle. Her councils directed it, her monuments 
memorialize it, her liturgies express it, all her writ- 
ings demonstrate it. The Fathers of the Church who 
are looked upon as the faithful depositaries of doc- 
trine, the truthful voice of tradition, whose learning 
and sanctity are unquestionable, have always pro- 
fessed it, taught it, and commended the doctrine of 
purgatory. It would be a long task to relate here all 
the testimonies of the Fathers and ecclesiastical writ- 
ers, which establish the perpetuity of this touching 
observance. We shall confine ourselves to a few. 
" Assemble," says the Apostolic Constitutions, " in 
cemeteries, read the sacred books there, chant the 
psalms in honor of the martyrs, and all saints, and 
for your brethren who have died in the Lord, and next 
offer the Eucharist." Tertullian, who lived so near 



Purgatory 



237 



the time of the Apostles, speaks frequently of prayer 
for the dead, and says this usage was founded on tra- 
dition. St. Cyprian, alluding to prayers for the dead, 
writes these remarkable words : " The Bishops, our 
predecessors, had already decreed that none of our 
brethren should in his will name an ecclesiastic as 
tutor or guardian, and if he did so that no one should 
pray for him, or celebrate the sacrifice for the repose 
of his soul." This decision prior to the time of St. 
Cyprian supposes the practice of praying for the dead 
to be an established one, and thereby points out to us 
the apostolicity of its origin. St. John Chrysostom 
says, " It was not without reason that the Apostles 
ordained that in the celebration of the terrible mys- 
teries a commemoration should be made of the de- 
ceased, for they well knew how useful and profitable 
it would be for the dead." 

The liturgies of many sects separated from the 
Church, though not written till the fourth century, 
date their origin nevertheless from the time of the 
Apostles. The liturgy of the Nestorian of Malabar 
expresses itself thus with regard to the doctrine of 
purgatory : " Let us remember our forefathers, our 
brethren, the faithful who have departed out of this 
world in the orthodox faith ; let us beseech the Lord 
to make them worthy of a share in eternal felicity with 
the just who are conformed to the divine will." The 
same sentiments and supplications are found in the 
liturgies of the Arminians, of the Greeks, of the 
Jacobite Copts, of the Abyssinians, and other sects sep- 
arated from the Church. Now this unanimous con- 



238 The Messiah's Message 



currence of all Christians, this perfect uniformity of 
all liturgies, necessarily supposes a common origin, 
recognized alike by Catholics and dissenters. It is 
therefore to the teaching of the Apostles and their 
divine Master that we must refer the universal prac- 
tice of praying for the dead, and the belief of the 
utility thereof, as well as in the existence of purga- 
tory, which is inseparable from the belief. They are 
our brethren according to the flesh, our parents, our 
brothers, our sisters, our friends, our spiritual fathers, 
these are the persons who from the midst of flames 
raise their suppliant hands to us and cry out : " Have 
pity on us, have pity on us, at least you who were our 
relatives and friends." 

Our Lord finding this custom established never said 
a word against it to the Jews. If he wished to dis- 
approve of it, how is it that He did not warn His dis- 
ciples against such a tradition? Still more, He knew 
that all Christians would religiously receive this tra- 
dition during the ages that were to follow : that when 
renewing every day the sacrifice of His Body and 
Blood, they would earnestly ask the application of 
His merits to the suffering souls of their deceased 
brethren and yet He took no measures to prevent them. 
Christ Himself recommended this practice to His dis- 
ciples, and with His infallible word confirmed their 
belief in purgatory. One day He said to them, " If 
any one blasphemes against the Son of Man, he may 
obtain pardon for his offense; but if he blaspheme 
against the Holy Ghost, his sin shall not be forgiven 
him, either in this world or in the world to come" 



Purgatory 



239 



(Matth. 12). Therefore, there are sins which are for- 
given in the world to come; otherwise the Saviour's 
expression would be meaningless. Now, as sin can- 
not be forgiven in the world to come, as regards its 
guilt and eternal punishment, it can therefore be for- 
given as regards its temporal punishment. But this 
forgiveness does not take place in heaven, into which 
nothing defiled can enter, nor in hell, out of which 
there is no redemption. There is, therefore, a middle 
place between heaven and hell. This place we call 
purgatory. 

" Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, 
whilst thou art in the way with him : lest perhaps the 
adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge 
deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 
Amen I say to you, thou shalt not go out from thence 
till thou repay the last farthing" (Matth. 5). 

With short sentences and simplicity of language 
the Scriptures reveal to us profound mysteries. This 
admirable style of Holy Writ pithily but expressedly 
teaches us the important lessons of our religion. Such 
is the evangelical passage which I have now cited. 

This severe adversary to whom Christ introduces us, 
if He be God, and His law which is adverse to our 
carnal desires, to our profane interests, it is expedi- 
ent that we should regulate our life, settle our ac- 
counts while we are still voyagers in this world. 

This Judge, to whom the adversary consigns us for 
judgment, is Jesus Christ, to whom, as He Himself 
declares, God the Father has given power to judge all. 

This debt which we have to pay even to the last 



240 The Messiah's Message 

farthing, are the punishments, the satisfaction, that 
we owe God for our shortcomings, for our sins, a debt 
which unless we settle in this life by penance we must 
inexorably satisfy to the last cent in another place. 

Finally this prison in which we will be imprisoned 
according to the sentence of Jesus Christ, and from 
which we will in fine be liberated when the debt is 
paid, is certainly not the prison of hell, since from 
hell there is no redemption, there is no possibility there 
for satisfaction, no price can purchase our release. 
Therefore it is clear that it must be a temporary 
prison. Purgatory. 

How is it possible that Jesus Christ as Judge can 
be so inexorable, so deaf to all forms of entreaty, who 
is the God of mercy, of clemency and goodness ? How 
is it possible that He would condemn, I don't say the 
souls of sinners, but the souls of the just, souls that 
are His friends, His children, until they pay the last 
farthing of the debts contracted with divine justice 
by their imperfections and their sins ? Cannot He by 
His infinite mercy so arrange matters, that souls leav- 
ing this world in the state of grace should suffer no 
longer any torment? And from the infinite merits of 
God's superabundant satisfaction cannot He withdraw 
from them the obligation of every pain as He has 
cancelled every fault? 

These are the sophisms of heresy studied by it to 
justify the diabolical pride with which it dares to deny 
the doctrine of purgatory, and oppose an ephemeral 
dream to the constant and universal belief of the hu- 
man race : not only have Christians at all times and in 



Purgatory 



241 



all places, but all forms of religions, all peoples have 
believed that the souls of our deceased friends can be 
alleviated in their sufferings by the prayers of the 
living. We must not therefore allow ourselves to be 
deceived by those sophisms. Yes, the mercy of God 
is infinite, so also are His sanctity and purity infinite, 
and of such a nature that He could not permit .to His 
divine presence a creature stained with the slightest 
taint or shadow of sin. He could not, nor could He 
wish to place on the Holy Mount, or allow to enter 
the august tabernacle of heaven souls unless purified 
from every stain and adorned with the most perfect 
justice. God is good and His goodness is innate in 
Him, and He is only severe where the conduct of the 
creature calls for severity. His severity is but the 
accidental justice that is called forth to regulate the 
evil of which His creature is the only cause. 

These venial faults, the relics and shadows of sins 
that hang about the soul are not sins ; these imperfec- 
tions into which we may fall every hour of the day 
are not criminal; that leavening of the concupiscence 
which stained the soul from its long alliance with the 
body, although it does not impede the friendship and 
grace of God, impedes, however, the vision and enjoy- 
ment of God. And until the soul becomes like a spot- 
less mirror, cleared of the stainings resulting from the 
vaporings of the world, it can't reflect the perfections 
of God, or participate in His love. The martyrs, the 
saints, the penitent, those extraordinary and heroic 
souls, by the generosity of their sacrifices, by the fre- 
quent use of the sacraments, by the austerity of their 



242 The Messiah's Message 

penances, by the sublime purity of their intentions, and 
immaculate lives, by the continual exercise of prayer, 
and the presence and love of God arrive at that stage 
of internal purification and perfection, that they de- 
stroy concupiscence in its most hidden recesses, so as 
to spiritualize their bodies and deify their hearts, and 
consequently issuing from their bodies they fly to re- 
ceive the reward of their spiritual labors, and live in 
the beatific vision of God. But those who have not 
practiced these expiations, and who are accordingly 
not sufficiently purified during life, it is necessary that 
they be purified after death, and it is the general 
opinion that the purification is by fire. The souls, 
therefore, after death and in the grace of God, but 
stained and imperfect, escape the punishment of hell 
because they are just, but do not escape Purgatory be- 
cause they are not clean : and they must remain there 
until the last trace of carnal corruption is effaced, and 
become worthy of the company of God. This doc- 
trine is beautifully expressed by the prophet Isaias 
when he says, " God will sanctify His elect in a burn- 
ing flame, that destroys the woody pith of imperfec- 
tions, as grass is destroyed by fire." And the prophet 
Malachias, " For He is like a refining fire and like the 
fullers herb, and He shall sit refining and cleansing 
the silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and 
shall refine them as gold." 

Again, if the mercy of God as judge is infinite, His 
justice is also infinite, and, accordingly, when God par- 
dons, He pardons as God. As God infinitely merciful 
He saves the sinner ; but as God infinitely just He can- 



Purgatory 



243 



not allow the most venial sin to go unpunished. God 
has to will that man may expiate his guilt, may satisfy 
for his sin. " Donee reddat." To conceive the mercy 
of God to be of such a nature that while pardoning 
sin it would also dispense man from any act of pen- 
ance or satisfaction, and would not leave to any soul, 
even the most loathing, any debt to pay, any punish- 
ment to fear, such a mercy would be a mercy capable 
of destroying among men every idea of justice, every 
fear of the judgments of God, because it would cost 
so little to satisfy for them : it would be a mercy capa- 
ble of removing all horror and dread of sin, because 
it would be so easy to make reparation: it would be 
a mercy capable of destroying the essentials of Chris- 
tian morality, which consists in the hatred and remote- 
ness of venial sin, because venial sins would count as 
nothing. Therefore, as Holy Writ and the tradition 
of the Church teach, as reason substantiates and the 
conduct of the greatest penitents persuade us, that 
after having obtained pardon still the soul should weep, 
do penance and pay a penalty. God in pardoning does 
not exempt all debts from a contrite and penitent 
heart. Such is the evidence produced from the con- 
duct of David, Peter and Magdalen. 

How few are they who accept and profit by the ad- 
vice of Jesus Christ and be in agreement with their 
adversary whilst they are on the way with him; in 
other words, how few of sinners converted who still 
in the enjoyment of life purify their bodies by penance 
in proportion to the manner they caressed and pam- 
pered it; who satisfy their adversary, that is the di- 



244 



The Messiah's Message 



vine justice, in proportion to the offenses committed 
against it. The vast majority of penitents leave this 
world without having closed their accounts with their 
divine adversary. They bring with them sins mourned 
over but not expiated. Their sorrow was sincere, but 
their penance was not rigid; they are not enemies of 
God because they are penitent for their misdeeds, but 
they are debtors of God because they have not suffi- 
ciently expiated : their souls, therefore, shall be confined 
to the minister of the justice of God for imprison- 
ment in the prison of Purgatory, from which, ac- 
cording to the sworn testimony of God, they shall not 
be freed until the last farthing due to divine justice be 
paid. 

At the same time we must not conclude that this 
divine Judge in the rigorous exercise of His justice 
has forgotten His mercy. These souls, although in 
this state of expiation, are in the grace of God, al- 
though in exile are still His, although in prison yet 
they are espoused to Him, and have a right to His 
kingdom; and while they are undergoing purification 
He loves them; while He withdraws from them yet 
He wishes to show them His divine presence; while 
He treats them with great rigor He wishes to prove 
to them His tenderness. What has He done in His 
wisdom to reconcile sentiments so opposing? He is 
inexorable because the debt has to be paid, but He is 
indulgent with regard to how it should be paid. If 
the unhappy debtor can't pay himself, He allows others 
to pay for him. In other words, He has established 
the economy of suffrage or assistance, by means of 



Eurgatory 



245 



which the church militant can succor the church purga- 
tive. We can come to the aid of those noble prison- 
ers and shorten their dreary days of captivity by our 
prayers and indulgences. 

When one is imprisoned for debt, he has no patri- 
mony, no funds, no subsidy from which he can draw 
to settle his accounts with his creditors, and therefore 
has no hope of being released from imprisonment 
unless through some generous friend who may volun- 
teer to pay his debts. In like manner the souls in pur- 
gatory are deprived of every means to obtain grace, to 
obtain the means to settle with their adversary — God. 
These means, these subsidies are to be found only on 
earth; they have no hope of seeing their sufferings 
alleviated, their chains snapped asunder, unless through 
our charity, through our eager wish to offer to God 
our prayers, our sacrifices, to appease and satisfy the 
justice of God, and thus do for them what they are 
not able to do for themselves. 

Could we draw the veil aside and look into that 
kingdom of prison, what a sight would startle us; we 
would recognize the suppliant hands stretched out of 
loving parents and affectionate children, we would hear 
the sweet voice of those whom we once loved repeating 
the words of Job, " Have pity upon me, at least you, 
my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched 
me." You, my friends, instead of extending to me 
the hand of assistance to lift me from this bed of pain 
and suffering, an obligation that God has imposed on 
you, you seem to unite with His justice to increase 
my torture. I was good to you on earth, I cradled 



246 The Messiah's Message 



your sufferings, I spent for you the sweat of my brow, 
I labored and fatigued to support you when you were 
unable to do so yourself, and when dying I left you 
my possessions which now give you a pleasant and 
comfortable life. And now since I cannot benefit you 
any further, are you so cruel as to give not even a 
thought for me, you pass by me unheeded, you aban- 
don me in my excruciating pain, and make no effort 
to placate my Master to whom I owe a great debt. 

How ungrateful, what ingratitude ! For games, for 
gambling, for transient and earthly pleasures you have 
time and money. For your fashionable resorts and 
licentious meetings, for bacchanalian reveries you have 
days and nights to squander and run riot amid the 
madrigals of passion, but for the alleviation of my 
poor suffering soul you have not a farthing to give in 
alms, not one hour to give in prayer, and you call 
yourself a Christian. You persecute me like my God, 
but with this difference, God is just, but you are un- 
grateful. What a fearful and alas, too, truthful in- 
dictment. 

This insensibility on our part for the souls in Purga- 
tory is as injurious to God as it is fatal to them. Be- 
cause, as God in order to bind men in civil society 
together has made some rich, and ordered them to as- 
sist the poor, so in like manner in order to bind the 
souls of the faithful together into a religious society, 
has made some rich with the treasures of His graces, 
and from this treasury He has ordered us to pay the 
debts contracted by the souls in Purgatory. And as 
the rich when insensible to the plaints of the poor in- 



Purgatory 



247 



suit the providence of God as Creator, so does the 
thoughtless Christian when he neglects the suffering 
souls in Purgatory, insult the loving providence of 
God, the Redeemer. 

The damned in hell, while they yearn after God by 
the instinct of nature, hate Him through the mal- 
ice of their will; while they seek Him, they fly from 
Him ; while they long for Him they abhor Him ; while 
they would wish to bless Him they blaspheme Him. 
But how different with the souls in Purgatory. They 
are drawn towards God not alone by the instinct of 
their nature, because they are the creatures of God, 
but by the force of divine charity, by sanctifying grace, 
which makes them the spouse of God. So that when 
they love they love only Him; they gravitate only to- 
wards Him as the great center of attraction, and yet 
can't get possession of Him. They are continually 
exclaiming, God of my heart, how comes it that I 
know you but I can't see you, I seek you but I can't find 
you? Infinite Good, how long .shall I be separated 
from you? Infinite Beauty, when will it be that I 
can woo thee? Infinite Sweetness, when can I taste 
thee? Tender Father, when may I meet thee? Be- 
loved Spouse, when can I embrace thee? Oh, mis- 
erable that I am here in this tormenting prison! I 
await thee, but thou art not coming. I call thee, but 
you do not respond. You are everywhere, but I can't 
find you anywhere. Everything speaks to me of thee. 
Everything leads me to thee, and I am separated from 
thee; without thee I have to be content with grief and 
tears. 



" PEACE BE TO YOU 99 

— John 20, 19. 

Very early in the morning, as the sun was just 
rising, Mary Magdalen, Mary, the mother of James, 
accompanied with other pious women, proceeded to 
the blossoming garden where the sepulcher was, in 
which the body of Jesus was laid, in order to anoint 
it with ointments and sweet perfumes in accordance 
with the Oriental custom. Their eyes were reddened 
from weeping, their tears were not yet dried, quiet 
sighs broke that stillness which reigns with such 
solemnity after death. Arrived at the sepulcher, look- 
ing in they saw an angel who addressed them in the 
following words : " Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus 
of Nazareth who was crucified, he is not here, he is 
risen." This is the expressive epigraph which the 
angel, in the height of his joy, sings over the tomb 
of the Son of God, verifying the words of the prophet 
Isaias : " And His sepulcher shall be glorious." How 
unlike the tombs of earthly kings where their power 
and glory ends ; here the power and sovereignty of the 
king of heaven begins. One of the most convincing 
proofs of the divinity of Jesus Christ is the fact that, 
to no other born of woman but to Christ can the 
prophecies, even in the minutest details, be ascribed. 
The mystery of this day of joy awakens the hearts 
of true Christians, and recalls the prophecies of old, 

248 . 



Peace be to You " 



249 



and the glory with which they are fulfilled. In these 
prophecies the life of Christ was written before He 
was born. All the mysteries surrounding His life 
were not only predicted in the words of the prophets 
but prefigured by the actions of the patriarchs. Moses 
was the figure of His birth; Abel the figure of His 
innocence; Noah of His ministry; Melchisdech of 
His priesthood; Jacob of His patriarchate; Isaac of 
His sacrifice; Job of His sufferings; David of His 
persecutions; Solomon of His royalty; and to Joan 
was reserved the duty of sculpturing for us His glori- 
ous Resurrection, as our Lord explained by applying 
to himself this figure when He says, according to St. 
Matthew, " And a sign shall not be given it, but the 
sign of Jonas the prophet." Men being mortal feed 
death, but the author of life suffocates death. The 
sepulcher of men is the terrible executioner of that 
sentence which condemns man to dust, but the sepul- 
cher of the Crucified preserves His body from cor- 
ruption and restores it to a new life ; it is a new kind 
of womb from which He is reborn. Mary conceived 
the Immaculate Word, and brought it forth Incarnate, 
subject, however, to death, but the sepulcher received 
Him dead and returned Him immortal. At the same 
time it must be remembered that Christ arose from 
the dead, not through the agency of any power but 
that of Himself. The Resurrection of Christ was un- 
seen by mortal eyes. As the God-man came forth at 
midnight from the virginal womb of His mother with- 
out violating her virginity, so does He leave the seals 

of the sepulcher unbroken. The angel, continuing his 

17 



250 The Messiah's Message 

news of the risen Christ, told the women to go and 
tell his disciples, and particularly Peter, that He goeth 
before them into Galilee, and there they would see 
Him, as He told them. While on the way to Galilee 
Jesus met them, and said, " All hail." Our Lord, 
therefore, unhinged the gates of death and bore them 
away in triumph. " The bright and beautiful day 
of a blissful eternity has arisen for the God-man, and 
it will never wane or set." The joyous Alleluia is 
now the watchword. 

Thus the Crucified fulfilled all the prophecies,- kept 
all His promises, authenticated His doctrine, con- 
firmed His mission, and showed to the world that He 
was God. That body that was a few hours ago sub- 
ject to the insults of a howling mob, a frenzied rab- 
ble, is now endowed with gifts no longer earthly. 
He was once matter as man, but now He is spiritual as 
God. He was once mortal as man, but now He is* 
immortal as God. He was once subject to pain and 
suffering, but now He is exempt from pain. What 
a brilliant reverse of His earthly life. What a trans- 
formation has taken place. He passes from ignomy 
to glory, from suffering to joy, from death to life. 
His crown of thorns becomes a crown of glory; the 
mock scepter becomes a staff with which He will shat- 
ter thrones and kingdoms; the jeering of the soldiers 
and coarse mob will give way to the adoration of kings 
and nations. 

Circumstances surround the great mystery of the 
Resurrection similar to those that surrounded the mys- 
teries of the Annunciation and birth of Christ. His 



''Peace be to You" 251 

birth was announced by an angel to simple shepherds 
while herding their flocks. In a similar manner now 
did angels make known to a few simple women of 
Jerusalem the first news that Christ had arisen. The 
Apostles will see the risen Lord and live with Him, 
more or less, for forty days, so as to be the unques- 
tionable witnesses of His Resurrection, and receive 
from Him the final instructions for the perpetuation 
of His work with regard to the salvation of mankind, 
but poor simple women were the first evangelists to 
announce the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. God, by 
this selection, shows us how He prefers ungarnished 
simplicity to the arrogance of intellectual loftiness. 
It is not he who, at the school of Jesus Christ, studies 
most, profits most, but he who prays most ; not he who 
reasons, but he who believes ; not he who discusses, but 
he who loves; the humble, devoted, loving soul soon 
finds Him, meets Him, and enjoys the practical knowl- 
edge of His mysteries; it loves them by believing them, 
and believes them by loving them. With what sweet- 
ness of language the angel addresses these pious wo- 
men, " Do not be affrighted." You have no reason 
to be afraid, you were always within sight of the 
Crucified; He was always the object of your love; 
there was no law you loved more than His ; you sought 
no grace but His ; you were jealous of no love but His ; 
you aspired to His presence above all others; while 
you seek him outside yourselves he resides in your 
hearts. Why should you be affrighted ; you wept with 
Him when He wept; you often stretched out your 
hands to cradle His sufferings; full of sorrow and 



252 The Messiah's Message 

deep grief you followed the "Man of sorrows" to 
Calvary, and when there while hanging on the Cross 
if you could not assist Him materially He had your 
love and sympathy in His agony. Go now into Gali- 
lee and there you will see Him, and join the grand 
chorus of rejoicing because He that was dead is risen. 

Material nature joins intelligent nature in the great 
chorus of jubilation to the risen Saviour. The sun 
that hid its face by shrouding light with the covering 
of night in order that it might not see the tortures of 
the Crucified on the Cross, now dispells that darkness 
before the clock of nature has so arranged by its laws, 
and restores to nature the light of which it was de- 
frauded during the hidden presence of the Saviour; 
night then chased light, but now light chases night. 
This beautiful luminary that shows more expressedly 
than the other material objects of creation, the mag- 
nificence, and greatness of God's power, anticipates 
the aurora in order to illumine with its brilliancy the 
day of Christ's Resurrection. As it eclipsed its light 
at noonday splendor in order not to see Christ's ig- 
nominious death, it appears to rise with Him again to- 
day to a new life. This rush of exultation on the part 
of the sun is communicated to all other created things. 
The air became redolent with an unusual sweetness. 
The earth, blossoming with varied tinted flowers, 
rivaled the rich garments of Solomon. The irrational 
animals leaped with joy. All nature seemed to rise 
to a new life with the risen Saviour. Both heaven 
and earth joined their voices in one grand universal 
chorus of joyous praise to their great Regenerator. 



Peace be to You 



253 



But there is a dark side to this picture which acts 
like a background to make by contrast the bright side 
more brilliant and beautiful. This darkness is pro- 
duced by the profound consternation, the depression, 
the fear, and confusion of Christ's enemies. That 
very instant in which the glorified body of the Saviour 
pierced through the sepulcher without opening it, a 
terrific earthquake shook the earth. And although the 
earth vibrated with joy on the day of Christ's Resur- 
rection like the strings of a musical instrument under 
the touch of a great artist, nevertheless, this tremor of 
the earth struck terror in the trembling hearts of those 
who guarded the sepulcher, and while the tremulous 
earth caused them to totter on their feet, the angel by 
dazing them with his heavenly brightness increased 
their horror. The angel hurled to one side the stone 
that closed the door of the tomb, and seemed to say, 
"Death, where is thy triumph now?" We fail to 
realize the feelings of the panic-stricken guards at 
this series of phenomena. With pallid faces and trem- 
bling limbs they hurried to announce to the chief 
priests and Pharisees what they witnessed. All Je- 
rusalem was astir, was in commotion; a low murmur 
traveled from one to another in the words, " He is 
risen." The good were overcome with boundless joy, 
the wicked trembled. What a surprise for the ribald 
Jews when to these rumors was added the authentic 
evidence. How were they to suppress the news, what 
means were they to concoct to contradict the truth 
of the Resurrection ? Deliberations were entered into 
at once. The cunning minds of Christ's enemies sug- 



254 The Messiah's Message 

gested that the guards should be bribed with plenty 
of money to hold their tongues, and only say that his 
disciples came during the night and stole the body. 
But the lie was too bare-faced, the imposture too man- 
ifest. What wicked malice, what deep perversity, 
what hellish hardness of hearts so obstinately rebel- 
lious to the truth of God! The Resurrection of our 
Lord is an undeniable fact, and while adopting their 
vile means of suggesting secrecy these very enemies 
of Christ confess its truth. 

But who is it that has need to tremble? Yes, the 
Scribes and Pharisees, and Sadducees have need to 
tremble. Pilate and the cruel executioners have need 
to tremble. The infidel, the unbeliever, the proud 
philosopher who looks upon the whole history of 
man's redemption as the offspring of a warped mind, 
these have need to tremble. The heretic, too, has need 
to tremble, because as the multiplication of sects before 
the coming of the Messiah distorted the true character 
of the Messiah, although all expected Him to be a 
deliverer, few believed Him to be divine. So is it to- 
day with regard to Christ and His Church, the rise and 
multiplication of sects are distorting the true idea of 
Christianity, and not a few deny its divine origin. 

Let us rise, too, at early dawn, when the sun ap- 
pears on the horizon, that is, let us throw one side 
the dark robes of vice that we had on during the dark 
night of sin, let us take with us the sweet perfumes of 
our virtuous deeds, the incense of our prayer, and 
seek to honor the God of truth. The grace which is 
scattered over the world to-day, lightens the yoke of 



Peace be to You 



255 



faith for the mind, and sweetly lifts the weight off 
the heart. Humble love believes all; thirsting love 
hopes all; efficacious love completes all. And thus 
fortified we are certain of meeting the risen Jesus in 
the true Galilee. Yes, I repeat with the angel, if you 
seek Christ crucified, you will find Him in the true 
Galilee, if you share in His pain and suffering, you 
will see Him in all His magnificence, in all His glory, 
in all His light and beauty, and be eternally happy 
with Him in heaven. When Christ arose from the 
dead some of the disciples were slow to believe in His 
Resurrection, notwithstanding that He told them that 
He would rise again. It took persuasive language to 
convince them. We must not, therefore, wonder at 
the Scribes and Pharisees not alone in not believing, 
but endeavoring to crush the belief that filled the souls 
of some. Now, if the faith of the people then was 
so cold and so hesitative, especially when the Saviour 
Himself was there on the spot to lighten up the dark- 
ness of their unbelief, we must not wonder in this age 
of distraction that men are so slow to believe, and 
when they do believe, how easy it is for them to lose 
their faith or suffer it to become icy cold. 

The mysteries of God the Redeemer are bound to 
each other, and harmonize with each other in a won- 
derful manner. The peace which His angels an- 
nounced to man at His birth, the peace which He prom- 
ised to leave us on that ever memorable night before 
He suffered death, this peace forms the first salute 
He gives His Apostles after His resurrection. " He 
stood in the midst of them and said, Pax vobis." But 



256 



The Messiah's Message 



He does not give them peace of heart until He first 
gives them peace of mind. He leaves their minds in 
peace through the virtue of faith before anointing 
their hearts with the unction of love. 

The death of Christ on Golgotha, like a whirlwind 
that convulses nature in its track, perturbed the souls 
of the disciples. They were unable to reconcile so 
many wondrous miracles worked by Christ with the 
ignominy which embittered His Passion. They failed 
to harmonize so many brilliant manifestations of His 
power with the catastrophe of His death, so many 
proofs of His divinity with such misery in His hu- 
manity. The minds of His disciples were tossed to 
and fro like a rudderless boat on the billows of a 
tempest-tossed sea, now on the crest of a surging 
wave, now engulfed in its death-threatening trough. 
At one time they were raised aloft to heaven, then 
they were suddenly dashed to earth. Buffeted by con- 
trary emotions they were unable to reach the port of 
a peaceful mind or a calmness of heart. In spite of 
the various revelations and assurances vouchsafed to 
the Apostolic college of His Resurrection, still the 
mystery of the cross disquieted them. While the dis- 
ciples were in this boiling sea of mental strain, their 
loving Master, the Scrutator of hearts, seeks them, and 
with the same power by which He on a former occa- 
sion scattered the turbulent winds and tranquilized 
the angry sea, He now restores calm to the troubled 
minds of the Apostles. Suddenly appearing in their 
midst He said, " Pax vobis." At his death irrational 
nature was unhinged, but His Resurrection restored 



"Peace be to You" 257 

light to the eclipsed sun, and steadiness to the trem- 
bling earth. While all these things in the material 
world have resumed their normal state, the minds of 
the Apostles were still in a state of unrest. " Why 
are you troubled ? " inquired Our Lord. " Why should 
you be still battered between belief and unbelief? " I 
come, He said, to give you peace. You must not 
stand out an exception to all nature. " Pax vobis," 
" Peace be to you." Even when the risen Saviour ap- 
peared among them, passing through the closed doors, 
they believed it to have been an apparition, as a spir- 
itual substance is not arrested by material objects. 
They looked upon Jesus, when He appeared to them, 
as a natural phenomenon of the human soul, and not 
a prodigy of His divine power. Hence they shrunk 
from Him in terror and consternation. Christ read 
their hearts and minds and immediately addressed 
them. " Fear not. It is I. Why do such thoughts 
arise in your mind ? " Commentators attribute these 
thoughts to three different reasons. They were still 
afraid of the Jews. They were still doubtful about 
His Resurrection, and about their position in the Apos- 
tolic college. They stood forlorn looking like a for- 
saken flock in helpless bewilderment seeking its shep- 
herd. 

Their attitude is a true picture of the human mind 
when widowed from divine light, always in disorder, 
agitated, and in continual warfare with itself, be- 
cause the human mind is so formed by Infinite Truth, 
that the Truth of God alone can content it; and the 
human heart is so formed by the Infinite Good, that 



2 5 8 



The Messiah's Message 



the love of God alone can make it happy. The Truth 
of God which is enjoyed in heaven through the 
Beatific Vision, is not communicated to the mind on 
earth except through the revelation of Faith, just as 
the love of God is diffused in the heart through grace. 
And as the heart has no peace unless it possesses the 
grace of God, in like manner the mind has no peace if 
deprived of faith in God. And as the heart has no 
peace when it resists or despises the will of God, or 
His law, thus the mind has no peace when it resists 
and despises the knowledge of God which is the teach- 
ing of His faith. As all created objects cannot ap- 
pease the heart made for the uncreated Good, thus 
all knowledge purely human cannot content the mind 
which is made for the Uncreated Truth. As the 
heart, therefore, that is not in the possession of divine 
grace, is always restless, hungry, even when it is in 
the enjoyment of earthly riches, honors and pleasures, 
thus the mind, that has not faith, although it may be 
rich with human knowledge, is always restless, un- 
certain and unhappy. Both the unbeliever and heretic 
are precisely in this sad condition, although the heretic 
may retain some of the truths of the revealed religion, 
and the unbeliever may retain some of the doctrines 
of what they call natural religion. Because these very 
Christian truths which the heretic holds on to, are 
merely opinions apparently more or less probable to 
his way of thinking and the fruit and conquest of 
his reason, they are, in fact, opinions purely human; 
and just in a similar manner does the unbeliever re- 
tain some natural truths as the fruit of his reasoning 



"Peace be to You 



259 



powers and judgment. The heretic, therefore, does 
not admit Christian truths, nor does the unbeliever 
admit natural truths except when they appear ad- 
missible to both one and the other, because the heretic 
submits Christian revelation to private judgment, and 
the unbeliever submits all the truths, traditional and 
common to humanity, to his judgment also. The 
creed, therefore, of both one and the other is re- 
ducible to this one principle, / believe in myself. In 
this creed, which is the symbol of their faith, there 
is not even a vestige of human faith, much less divine. 
Because it is no longer God who, by means of His 
lawful ministers, speaks to His creature, and feeds 
and nourishes his intelligence with the bread of His 
divine Word, of His divine Truth; but it is the 
creature that forms from himself anything and every- 
thing that he believes about God, and who, to a cer- 
tain extent, makes God subservient to himself. The 
man, therefore, who in a matter of faith, has for 
his guide his own opinion, is likened to the man 
who in a matter of morality has for his guide his 
instincts and passions, and as the heart is miserable 
and unhappy that favors itself in all things, so in like 
manner is the mind miserable of him who believes 
solely in itself. 

But let us revisit the Cenacle. The loving Jesus 
is full to overflowing with love for His disciples. 
He preserved the scars formed in His body by the 
wounds of His crucifixion in order that He might 
heal the wounds in the hearts of His disciples — the 
wounds of incredulity. It is worthy of our atten- 



260 



The Messiah's Message 



tion to notice with what anxious solicitude, with 
what industrious love He accomplished this healing. 
In His interview with the Apostles He said to them, 
" Why are you troubled?" I am your Jesus. I am 
your Father. I am your Master. Approach Me, 
see the wounds in My hands and feet, the opening in 
My side, that were caused by the nails and lance when 
on the cross. Do not trust your eyes, stretch forth 
your hands, feel me, touch me, and be convinced 
that I am a human body made up of flesh and bones, 
that I am no phantom, and to convince them of the 
reality of His body He ate with them. Then a sec- 
ond time did He say, " Peace be to you." After 
He repeated these words He said to them, " As the 
Father has sent me I also send you," then He 
breathed on them in most expressive words which gave 
them the power of forgiving sins. " Receive you the 
Holy Ghost ; whose sins you shall forgive they are for- 
given; and whose sins you shall retain they are re- 
tained." While Our Lord was exercising this 
magisterial office in giving this solemn injunction 
to the Apostles, both light and grace were invisibly 
working in their minds and hearts. While they 
were listening to these important commissions they 
believed, tasted, and loved them. These very 
Apostles who a few moments ago had our Lord 
before their eyes without seeing Him, who heard 
Him speak without recognizing Him, now see, be- 
lieve and acknowledge Him to be really risen from 
the dead. See, therefore, how this holy faith pro- 
duces its peculiar effect ; it recomposes their dis- 



"Peace be to You 



turbed minds, dissipates all doubt, removes all fear, 
calms and illumines them; this peace of mind, the 
fruit of faith descending into their hearts tranquil- 
izes its turbulent affections, and shows its brilliancy 
in their eyes and countenance, makes itself manifest 
in their words and actions, for they went back to 
Jerusalem with joy. 

The doctrine of the Catholic Church is no other than 
this same doctrine revealed by our Saviour to the 
first disciples. This very thing which Jesus Christ 
did to the Apostles, His Church continues to do in 
His name, by His orders, and with His authority 
to all the faithful, and therefore by listening with 
docility to His Church is just the same as listening 
to Jesus Christ. " He who hears you, hears me." 
Because the teaching of the Church produces in the 
minds and hearts of the truly faithful, the same 
precious effects that the revelation of Jesus Christ 
produced in the minds and hearts of the Apostles, 
and brings tranquillity, repose to the mind, and joy 
to the heart. 

The peace of God is a mysterious bond that 
unites, associates and harmonizes all things by 
placing them in their natural order. Accordingly, it 
is diffused over all things, it is interwoven in all 
things created, it is the harmony of their order, and 
constitutes principally their decorum and beauty. 
With regard to us men, composed as we are of two 
substances, soul and body, we participate in this 
peace in two ways; first with regard to the body, 
we enjoy tranquillity and peace when the elements 



262 



The Messiah's Message 



that compose it are in their natural equilibrium, this 
is called health, and when the members that compose 
it are perfectly in harmony with each other in their 
forms and proportions, this is called beauty. Now 
with regard to the soul, we are participators of this 
peace when we communicate with God through a 
virtuous life. This means, in other words, that the 
mind and heart of man are not in the enjoyment of 
peace unless they are placed in their natural order, 
unless they are united to God through their natural 
relationship of their knowledge and love of God. 
Now, God is not perfectly known unless through the 
revelation of faith, and is not truly loved unless 
through the communication of grace. As, therefore, 
the Catholic religion is the only and true and legiti- 
mate channel of divine revelation, it alone can place 
the mind in its natural order with reference to God, 
it, therefore, alone, according to the prophet Isaias, 
can place us in the tranquil and beauteous bosom of 
peace. 

In order that we may better understand the pro- 
fundity of this important doctrine, we must ad- 
vert to the fact that the human mind, passive in its 
principle, active in its development, has two in- 
clinations equally natural, two innate exigencies, two 
original and indestructible characteristics, namely, 
that of believing, and that of reasoning. Religions 
that are sensual, such as Idolatry, Mohammedanism, 
imposed on the people by force, and maintained 
politically, have for their principle that everything 
is due to authority, and nothing to reason. The 



"Peace be to You 



263 



religions based on pride, such as all heretical sects 
which spring from self-love, and are defended by a 
spirit of absolute independence, have for their guid- 
ing principle, that everything is due to reason and 
nothing to authority. Now faith, like virtue, holds 
the middle place, because truth is the virtue of the 
intellect, as virtue is the truth of the heart. 
Catholic doctrine, therefore, established and pre- 
served in its integrity and in its purity by the wis- 
dom, power, and love of God, stands between the 
two systems mentioned above in which are abridged 
all the religions of human fabric, and has for its 
principle subjection to reason, to lawful authority, 
and legitimate use of reason. These sensual re- 
ligions say, believe without reasoning; the religions 
of pride cry out, reason without believing; but the 
Catholic religion preaches, believe and reason, too. 
The natural consequences, therefore, of all these re- 
ligions of the senses is the extinction of all learning 
and their last word is ignorance; and the natural 
consequences of the religions of pride is the extinction 
of all faith and their last word is Infidelity; Catholi- 
cism alone has for its natural consequence the object 
of preserving learning and faith and its last word 
is believe and learn, because learning cannot tolerate 
the yoke of a human and servile faith, neither can 
faith accept an intemperate and proud teaching that 
rejects every curb of authority. 

In the economy of Catholic teaching, in which inde- 
pendence is reasonable, and reason is dependent, learn- 
ing has nothing to fear from faith, nor has faith 



264 The Messiah's Message 



anything to fear from learning. Learning is a solu- 
tion that dissolves all metals except gold, which in 
other words means, that knowledge destroys, annihi- 
lates all human religions, but it is impotent against 
Catholic doctrine because it is heavenly and divine. 
Where, therefore, sensual religions satisfy the neces- 
sity that man has of believing, they elude the necessity 
that man has of reasoning; and on the contrary, the 
religions of pride while supporting the necessity of 
reasoning do not appease that of believing, the Catho- 
lic religion alone by commanding us to believe, and by 
directing learning, solves the great problem of reason 
and authority, learning and faith, and supplies to man 
that which contents his double necessity of believing 
and reasoning, and therefore, places the human intel- 
lect in that order that is natural to it, and maintains 
it there, and this natural order is for the intellect a 
state of tranquillity and peace. 

But these precious effects which Catholic doctrine 
produces in the natural order, are only the conse- 
quences of the far more important effects which it pro- 
duces in the supernatural order. True faith is not 
separated from the grace of which it is the gift, and 
which, while it purifies, elevates, and perfects faith, it 
makes the mind a secret spring of peace and tranquil- 
lity, spiritual and divine, to which heresy is an absolute 
stranger. The mind of a heretic is dominated by prej- 
udices, tyrannized over by error, and made desolate 
by doubt. He denies to-day what he conceded yester- 
day. Timid and uncertain, always agitated by the 
ebb and flow of contrary opinions, what a contrast 



"Peace be to You" 



265 



he bears with a member of the Catholic Church who 
has no need to temper his brain in order that he may- 
reason or discuss the more important parts of religion. 
He has no need to ask reason or philosophy anything 
bearing on his faith. He knows everything about 
God, Christ, the soul, the law, future life, that is nec- 
essary to know, and he is certain of it with an abso- 
lute, infallible certainty, because Infinite truth has 
revealed it to him through His church. It is an un- 
equaled privilege to be in possession of the certainty, 
the fullness, the peace of the true faith. Every Catho- 
lic proves this to be so when he believes with an 
humble, fervent, firm faith, the Word of God revealed 
and taught by the infallible teaching of the Catholic 
Church. Let us guard this grand grace of being 
among the privileged possessors of God's truth, and 
be transported with joy because we have secured it, 
let us hold it in the tightened folds around our bosom. 
There is no longer a distinction between seeing and 
believing, between possessing it and awaiting it. 
There appears before our very eyes that which we be- 
lieve with our minds and love with our hearts. We 
seem to have a foretaste here on earth through faith, 
of the first-fruits of that peace of mind, of that infi- 
nite joy, the form, the sweetness of the vision of God 
in heaven. But let us remember that even we, the 
members of Christ's Church, cannot enjoy this unique 
and beautiful peace of mind, the fruit of the true 
faith, unless we possess within our hearts peace in its 
affections, the fruit of divine grace. The heart that 
is in tumult through the disorder of its passions does 

18 



266 



The Messiah's Message 



not permit the joy of the mind to live, which is the 
calm of the truth of faith. When one lives up to this 
faith, when faith is in harmony with one's works, 
when one's life is up to his profession, when the mind 
harmonizes with the heart, then the peace of God that 
overcomes every sense of worldly pleasure, descends 
upon man, takes possession of his soul, and renders it 
truly happy on earth. O sublime peace of the soul 
that the world is always promising but never gives. 
O peace of the soul that comes from the wounds of 
our crucified Saviour risen from the dead. O peace 
of the soul that is found at the foot of the Cross, and 
blossoms only in the meadows of the Church. O 
peace of the soul that springs up in the mind as the 
flower of faith and descends to the heart through the 
possession of divine charity. Hold on to this peace, 
allow nothing to mar or ruffle it, guard it with a jeal- 
ous care, and carry it to the bright shores beyond. 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE SINNER 
Part I 

When God infused into the body of man an intelli- 
gent soul, He also united Himself to the soul through 
sanctifying grace, and by elevating the soul to a new 
and divine life, making it a candidate of heaven, He 
performed a more prodigious wonder than when He 
called forth a living body from inert clay. 

Man received from the hand of his Creator a 
double life, a physical life consisting in the union of 
the soul and body, and a spiritual and divine life con- 
sisting in a more exalted union, the union of the soul 
with God. And as the soul is the source of life to the 
body, so is God the source of life to the soul. And 
as the body becomes a corpse when separated from the 
soul, in like manner the numbness, the paralysis of 
spiritual death comes on the soul when separated from 
God. Accordingly, when a soul sins, it becomes sepa- 
rated from God and spiritually dies and lies putrifying 
in its spiritual tomb. Down in the somber depths of 
this spiritual sepulcher the voice of God penetrates 
and says, " Amen, Amen, I say to you, that the hour 
cometh and is now come, when the dead shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." 
Yes, the voice of His grace breaks the seal of that 
spiritual tomb, and the soul will rise to live once more 

267 



268 



The Messiah's Message 



in the sunshine of God's love. It is certain that Our 
Saviour during His public mission resurrected many 
from the grave, but it is not without mystery that we 
find only three recorded in the Holy Scriptures, that 
of the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of 
Nairn, and Lazarus. The time that each was- dead, 
and the peculiar circumstances attending the resurrec- 
tion of each vividly express the spiritual death and 
resurrection of the three classes into which all sinners 
are divided, the Occult, Public, and Hardened or re- 
lapsing sinner. 

While our Saviour was addressing a vast multitude 
on the way of eternal life, one of the great men of 
Capharnaum approached Him and prostrated himself 
before Him. It was Jairus, the chief of the Syna- 
gogue. " Lord, my little girl is dying," he said, " but 
come and lay your hands upon her and she shall live." 
She was a little girl, not yet past her play days, her 
father's darling. Jesus melting with sympathy, ten- 
derly reassured the father, and started at once in the 
direction of the Ruler's house. The Apostles accom- 
panied Him; behind them surged an excited throng 
of publicans and Pharisees. But what a throng ! When 
He tried to pass through the people, they closed 
around Him like a wall. It was indeed a wall of 
human misery, blank and vast. The unhappy, the 
evil, the sick, the curious surround Him. It was like 
an insurrection of the woe of the world, catching sight 
for the first time, of the only alleviation it ever had 
seen. All were eager to see what was going to hap- 
pen. Jesus and Jairus walked together and while on 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 269 

the way a servant met them weeping and told them 
that it was too late, for the little maid was dead. The 
heart of Jairus was almost broken at the news, but 
the tender-hearted Nazarene comforted him, " Do not 
fear but only believe, and she shall be saved." After 
Jesus arrived at the house He found the delicate body 
of the little girl lying on her couch dead. Round 
about it the women were moaning while the shrill 
keening of the flutes made their cries more dismal. 
" Weep not," said Jesus, " the child is not dead but 
sleeps." Some of the mourners began to laugh. But 
it was a derisive laugh, " a cold sound in that house 
of woe." The Nazarene ordered all out of the death- 
chamber but the father and mother, Peter, James, and 
John. Jesus silently looked on the pallid face of the 
little girl. She lay unconscious with that wondering 
look which death casts on childhood. Then He took 
her by the hand. Her little wasted fingers commenced 
to quiver and tremble and Jesus said, " Maid, arise." 
At once the little girl arose and started to run about 
as usual. 

All the circumstances surrounding the death and 
resurrection of this young girl are a beautiful picture 
of the young sinner, the sinner we call occult. Very 
few, probably not even one, suspects that the soul of 
this person or that is committing sin. Or perhaps the 
knowledge of her sin or his sin is only known to the 
associates of their sin. It is a true representation of 
that sinner who does not suffer much time to intervene 
between the committal of sin and penitence. A pic- 
ture of the soul still warm in its spiritual death. A 



270 The Messiah's Message 



picture of the soul easily resurrected from its spiritual 
death. The return to God's friendship, to a spiritual 
life again, will be a matter of a word from God, pro- 
vided you address Him as Jairus addressed Him. 
Lord, help me to have the courage to break away from 
those associates of sin. Lord, give me water from the 
fountain of grace to quench those disordinate affec- 
tions, those corrosive fires that are burning within me. 
Lord, assist me to sweep out from the chambers of my 
heart the dust of earthly pleasures that has been 
accumulating there. Lord, stretch your hand to me, 
lift me up from my bed of sin. Restore to me the 
treasure that I lost so easily. Do not suffer me to be 
tarnished with the filth of the spiritual grave. Let me 
rise to a new and better life. . . . He replies, 
" Arise." 

On another occasion our Saviour proceeding with 
His disciples and a multitude of people towards the 
city of Nairn, met a funeral procession coming out 
of the city. At the head of the procession were the 
mourners who sent up a chorus of cries and wails, 
then came the flutists who drew shrill plaintive notes 
from their pipes. On this occasion their demonstra- 
tion of woe must have been more wild and clamorous 
than usual, for they were seeking to give utterance to 
sorrow such as no tears could wash away. Then 
came an elderly woman weeping piteously. She was 
a widow and he that was dead was her only son. 
Jesus goes up to the mother and addressed her, say- 
ing, " Weep not." Behind the weeping mother the 
bier came ; it consisted merely of a flat board. Upon 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 2ji 

this lay the dead youth, wrapped in a shroud, so that 
the face remained uncovered. Christ pushed His way 
forward to the bier, touched it. The men who carried 
it knew the meaning of Our Lord's act and stood still. 
With a gesture clearing a little space for Himself, 
Jesus lifted His eyes towards heaven. His gaze 
pierced the sky. His thoughts traveled in prayer to 
the ears of His Eternal Father. He stooped over the 
bier, and with majestic intentness He looked into the 
face of the dead. There stood defiant Life confront- 
ing Monarch Death. Then He commanded the body 
as one commands a being that can obey. " Young 
man, I say, arise." And the youth awakes, sits up, 
and begins to speak. Our Saviour takes him by the 
hand and leads him to his mother's arms. 

The Gospel narrative of the death and resurrection 
to life by our Saviour of the Son of the widow of 
Nairn is a perfect illustration of the spiritual death 
and resurrection to life of the public sinner, of that 
class of sinners who disregard all shame, advertise 
their disorders, flaunt the banner of sin, and scanda- 
lize the public by their infamous living. The veil of 
privacy that hung between the secret sinner and the 
public is worn to a state of transparency, or removed 
altogether by the constant friction of the habit of sin, 
and exposed the soul with all its stainings to the stare 
of the world. There is no longer a crimson blush on 
the cheek of the soul, all shame has disappeared and 
the sinner becomes bold and triumphant in sin. Sin- 
ners of this class are no longer confined to the closed 
doors of their own soul, they have trespassed on the 



272 



The Messiah's Message 



souls of others, and have inoculated them with the 
virus that was blood-poisoning and putrifying them- 
selves. They have broken into the treasury of the 
home of God and committed more than a burglary 
there. They crept in stealthily and confiscated the 
treasures of God's grace that ornated and enriched 
that home of God, and by their infamous association 
polluted that hallowed precinct. Not content with 
confining to their own souls the baneful effects of sin, 
they set traps to catch and cast nets to haul within 
their meshes of infamy the pure and innocent. Their 
lives are a seminary where others are trained to com- 
mit sin and become corrupted with sin. We have 
examples of this class of sinner in the adulterous and 
drunken husband, in the immoral spendthrift son, in 
the giddy and undutiful daughter who soon becomes 
the salacious girl of the street who poisons the air 
through which she moves. This class of sinner is, 
therefore, responsible not only for their own sins, 
but also for the sins of those who are scandalized and 
are led astray by their bad example. In order, there- 
fore, that this class of sinner may rise again to a new 
life, it is necessary that he should not alone repress 
his own passions but remove the scandal that he gave, 
and here lies the great difficulty to be overcome in the 
conversion of this class of sinner; and the manner 
of our Saviour in raising the widow's son demonstrates 
this difficulty. The attitude of our Lord in raising 
the daughter of Jairus was not so serious or so grave 
when compared to the attitude or manner He adopted 
on this occasion. " Young man," He said, " I com- 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 273; 

mand you to arise! " Then He took him by the hand 
and supported him some steps. In like manner the 
sinner after conversion is still weak. He is not quite 
recovered from the intoxication of his sinful and 
pleasurable life; he requires assistance from the hand 
of God until he becomes strong. Although your cul- 
pability may be enormous, although you may have 
been the teacher of sin and your responsibility serious, 
you still have left you the power to cancel that signa- 
ture which has consigned you to pay the penalty of 
your sins in eternal torments. You may be steeped 
in the mildew of the grave, but you are not yet buried ; 
you are on the way to burial. You are not yet cor- 
rupt, but you are nearing that stage. There is some- 
one weeping for you, there is someone praying for 
you. It is Mother Church following you, wandering 
with you in your wanderings, filling up your foot- 
prints with her tears that the lost one of her bosom 
has left her to wallow in the mire of sin. The Naza- 
rene is not far off. He is nigh, He sees those tears, 
He hears those sobs, those cries, those prayers. His 
heart is keenly alive to the anguish; it pulsates, it 
throbs anxiously and gently. There is a halt in the 
funeral procession of the sinner. A thought rushes 
to his mind that the grave to which he is being carried 
on the bier of sin is not the last resting place, that 
there is a mysterious life beyond it, that there is 
another land beyond the dark shore of the grave to 
which we must all migrate, a land of joy or misery. 
With this thought uppermost in his mind the adulter- 
ous drunken husband halts and thinks; the immoral, 



The Messiah's Message 



youthful spendthrift halts and thinks; the giddy and 
salacious girl halts and thinks. Not advancing, not 
retrograding, but rocking, and while in this swaying 
position in the balance the last grace comes. The 
winter that had frozen up his heart is broken. There 
is a softness in the atmosphere of grace, a thaw has 
set in, his stiff, icy heart melts. God stoops over 
him, as He stood over the dead body of the youth of 
Nairn. He breathes into his soul the resolution to 
lead a better life. He hears the loud voice of God 
commanding him to rise to a new and purer life; he 
obeys the call of the Nazarene and reoccupies his posi- 
tion in the bosom of his holy Mother, the Church. 

As sinners are the most unhappy among men owing 
to the stings of their rebuking conscience, so the re- 
lapsing sinner is the most unhappy among sinners. 
This condition is most vividly illustrated in the death 
and resurrection of Lazarus, of whom it is recorded 
that he was four days buried, and consequently putre- 
faction had set in. 

While our Saviour was still working in the East- 
jordan, there came a messenger from the sisters of 
Lazarus saying that their brother was seriously ill. 
They dwelt in Bethany, were very pious and devoted 
to our Lord, and were loved by Him in return. The 
message they sent our Lord was full of faith, humility, 
modesty, and touching confidence. " Lord, behold he 
whom Thou lovest is sick." Although our Lord 
knew that Lazarus died upon the same day that the 
message reached Him yet He delayed two days longer 
where He received the message. At length Jesus 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 



275 



journeyed across the Jordan valley and reached Beth- 
any in the morrow. A great number of sympathizing 
Jews accompanied Martha to meet Jesus. Casting 
herself at His feet, dissolved in tears, she said: 
" Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother would not 
now be dead. But I know that even now God will 
grant you whatever you ask of Him." Jesus lifted 
His face. Clearly through the stillness arose the voice 
of the Nazarene uttering for the first time the great 
words that have thrilled the mourners of the world 
for the past nineteen hundred years, and which will be 
uttered in triumph till the burial hour of death itself. 
" I am the resurrection and the life. He that believ- 
eth in me, although he be dead, shall live, and he that 
liveth and believeth in Me shall not die forever. Be- 
lieveth thou this? Yea, Lord, she said. I believe 
that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, 
who art come into the world." With this thought 
uppermost in her mind Martha sped homeward to sum- 
mon her sister Mary, who was lying tearless, desolate, 
comfortless, when Martha returned. Approaching 
her she whispered, " The Master is come and calleth 
for thee." In a moment Mary was on her way to 
Jesus. Having arrived she threw herself at the feet 
of Jesus as Martha did, murmuring the same reproach- 
ful words. " Lord, if Thou hadst been here my 
brother would not have died." She could say no 
more, her tears spoke, and she prayed. The poor girl 
sobbed so bitterly and piteously that the coldest eye in 
the crowd softened. The Jews seemed to have for- 
gotten their hatred of Christ, and like Mary sobbed. 



276 



The Messiah's Message 



So mightily did those tokens of love and sorrow shake 
the soul of Jesus that His spirit was stirred and 
troubled within Him. Suddenly those standing by 
heard a heart-breaking sound. It was the groan of a 
strong and sensitive man. It was Jesus weeping. 
"Where have you laid him?" he inquired. " Lord, 
come and see," they replied. There was no more to 
be said. Lazarus was dead, yea, he was buried. He 
was locked into the cells of the earth's ancient prison, 
and despair, the jailer, held the keys. Having arrived 
at the tomb, " Take away the stone," spoke the 
Saviour, and Martha answered, Master he is already 
corrupt, it is four days since He died. Then our 
Lord replied : " Did I not say to you that if you be- 
lieve you will see the glory of God? " The stone was 
rolled back, and the body disclosed. Jesus and the 
tomb faced each other; Defiant Life and Monarch 
Death confronted each other. The features of the 
Nazarene were rigid, with eyes toward heaven. He 
prayed. " Father, I give thanks, that Thou hast 
heard Me. For Myself I know that Thou hearest me 
always, but for the sake of these people who stand 
about Me I have spoken thus, that they may believe 
that Thou hast sent Me." His command like a flash 
of lightning pierces the darkness of the grave, and re- 
kindles in the dead bones the spark of life. One word 
from Him rings through the abysses of eternity and 
brings the soul back from the world beyond. With a 
loud voice He cried out, " Lazarus, come forth." 
Through the door or opening of the sepulcher the out- 
lines of a figure moved. The dead man emerged from 



The Resurrection of the Sinner. 277 

the grave with his hands and feet wrapped in the wind- 
ing bands, with his face shrouded in the linen ker- 
chiefs, and stood among the appalled and silent wit- 
nesses of the inconceivable truth. " Loose his hand, 
said Jesus, and let him go." The cere-cloth fell from 
off his features, the winding sheets slipped from his 
limbs and Lazarus was once more in the glow of life. 

The miracle was different from the other miracles 
of this kind wrought by our Lord, as it took place 
after decay had already set in. " Our Saviour snatched 
the little daughter of Jairus from the hands of death, 
the youth of Nairn from the jaws of death, but Lazarus 
from the bowels of death." His remains were putrid, 
fetid, corrupt, and emitted a foul odor, accordingly 
represented the class of sinner called habitual and re- 
lapsing. It is a true picture of that sinner who for 
years lies buried in sin, crushed beneath the heavy 
weight of the habit of sin. No ray of light pene- 
trated the dark tomb of Lazarus, no light of divine 
grace penetrates the petrified conscience of the hard- 
ened, relapsing sinner. The heavenly lights are put 
out, the soul has retired into its dark and silent tomb. 
As every virtuous act disposes the soul to another act 
of virtue, in like manner each sin committed disposes 
the soul of the sinner to another sin. As grace pro- 
duces grace, so sin produces sin. As the just ascend 
higher and higher from virtue to virtue in their climb 
to heaven, so sinners falling from sin to sin, descend 
lower and lower towards the abyss of hell. " Woe," 
says St. Bernard, " to him who familiarizes with sin." 
No matter how dark the scowl of sin be, no matter 



278 



The Messiah's Message 



how repulsive its features are, familiarity with it robs 
it of its fulsomeness. We convince ourselves, some- 
times, that a certain necessity compels us to sin, from 
this necessity is produced a belief that it is impossible 
to amend our lives, from this belief comes the sin of 
despair, then nought remains but the tremendous mys- 
tery of eternal damnation. We are in a whirlpool 
and can't extricate ourselves. From the swirl of 
fashion we slide into the whirl of sinful pleasures, and 
round and round we dance in the froth and foam of 
God's wrath until we plunge into the vortex of hell. 

We must not wonder at our Lord trembling, groan- * 
ing, and weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, when we 
consider that His death and resurrection are a repre- 
sentation of the grief and sorrow of God at the rotten 
and putrid state of the sinner grown old in sin, and 
the great difficulty it is to rise to a new life of grace 
and love of God. He raised Lazarus from the fetid 
grave, and there is no reason why a ray of His light 
may not steal its way through a chink of the hard- 
ened walls of the sepulcher where the sinner lies 
buried; there is no reason why a sunbeam should not 
come from the eternal Sun of Justice to illumine his 
soul and show him how dark and dismal is the life 
he is leading buried in the tomb of sin when compared 
to the life that once he lived when in the noon-day 
splendor of God's love. A thought rushes to his mind 
and he considers how fettered and chained he is with 
the fetters of the habits of sin, and how free he would 
be if he could only shake off these fetters. A voice 
whispers to his soul that the cere-cloth of the grave 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 279 



of sin has blindfolded him and thereby prohibits him 
from seeing the road he is pursuing to be that one 
which leads to hell. What is this voice? Whose is 
this whisper? Where does this ray of light come 
from? This is the encouraging voice of God speak- 
ing to him as He spoke to Martha and Mary. " I 
am the resurrection and life." This is the voice of 
God commanding him to remove the heavy weight of 
sin that is pressing him down and closes the door of 
the soul to the entrance of God's grace. This, the 
voice of God praying for him as he lies buried, fetid, 
rotten, in sin. This is the voice of God crying out 
to Him as He cried out to Lazarus, " Come forth 
from that grave of sin. Throw aside these bad asso- 
ciates that are steeped in sin, they will taint you; as 
the cere-cloths and linaments fell from the risen body 
of Lazarus disassociate yourselves from those of bad 
companions who try to still cling to you." Is your 
name inscribed in that class represented by the 
daughter of Jairus? If it is, erase it; the Nazarene 
calls you, " Young maid, arise " from your bed of sin. 
Are you among that class represented by the son of 
the widow of Nairn? Hark! the Nazarene calls you, 
" Young man, I say to you, arise from the bier of sin." 
Are you numbered among that awful black list that 
is represented by Lazarus ? Lo ! Look at the Naza- 
rene weeping. He cries out with a loud voice, 
" Arise, come forth from the grave of sin." 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE SINNER 



Part II 

"I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: 
Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." — Luke 
i5> 18. 

Our Saviour was obliged on many occasions during 
His Galilean preaching to defend Himself against the 
charge of being too lax in His intercourse with sin- 
ners. The Scribes and Pharisees were always carp- 
ing at Him, and finding fault with Him on this mat- 
ter. " This man receiveth sinners and eateth with 
them." These taunts He answered with the gentle 
defense that " they that are well have no need of a 
physician, but they that are sick." 

We have as many as three distinct parables of our 
Lord in each of which the delight of God in the re- 
covery of the penitent sinner is the chief feature. 
First we have the parable of the shepherd seeking the 
wandering one of the flock, then that of the woman 
seeking the groat which she had lost, and, thirdly, the 
history of the prodigal son. In each case the rejoic- 
ing, whether of the owner of the lost sheep, or of the 
owner of the lost groat, or of the father of the prodi- 
gal, is made a distinct and very marked feature in 
the discourse. " What man of you that hath a hun- 
dred sheep and if he shall lose one of them doth leave 

280 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 281 

the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which 
was lost, until he find it, and when he hath found it, 
lay it upon his shoulders rejoicing, and coming home, 
call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 
rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which 
was lost? I say to you that even so there shall be joy 
in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance more than 
upon ninety-nine who need no penance." 

In the circumstances of this parable our Lord paints 
in a figure the details of His labors and His triumphs. 
He speaks of the man who leaves ninety-nine out of a 
hundred sheep in the desert, to go in search of the one 
sheep that has strayed. He speaks of how he treats 
it when he has found it, not driving it before him, or 
even leading it, but he carries it on his shoulders. 
He searches and calls through the vast, pathless desert 
until he finds it, and when he has found it he calls his 
' friends to join with him in his rejoicings. 

The publicans and sinners with whom our Lord 
was charged of letting Himself be too familiar, were 
in His eyes the lost sheep of His flock, for the re- 
covery of whom He was preparing to lay down His 
life. They were outcasts, as well as lost sheep. They 
had been lost, sought out and found, and brought 
home in triumph. If He ate and drank with them as 
He had done on a former occasion at the feast of St. 
Matthew, that was a manifestation of joy not to be 
compared with that which took place in heaven at their 
conversion. They might feast Him, as Father Mesch- 
ler says, and entertain Him after their own poor, 

rough, coarse fashion, but with hearts of sincere love 

19 



282 



The Messiah's Message 



of the true penitent. He would accept their hospi- 
tality, join in their festivities, hallow their banquets 
such as they were, for His heart was full of ecstatic 
joy, and in its expansiveness and love of sympathy He 
would call on heaven to rejoice with Him. 

Our Lord gives a second example of the joy that 
fills His sacred heart on the reclaiming of sinners. 
It is that of a woman who lost a groat; she lights a 
candle, searches and sweeps every corner of the house 
and thus burns almost more candle than the groat is 
nearly worth, and, having found it, her affectionate 
solicitude is seen in her joy at recovering the lost 
object. She communicates it by word of mouth to her 
sympathizing neighbors and friends and finds an echo 
in their hearts. 

There is a difference between the sheep and the 
groat that is lost. The coin of which our Lord 
speaks is stamped with the image of the King, and 
so may be said to represent something in that respect 
more precious than the sheep. Man is stamped with 
the image of God, and, therefore, his soul belongs to 
a higher range in creation than an animal. And 
although we must understand man as represented by 
the sheep, and belonging to God, still the image on the 
piece of money brings out the truth which the other 
image does not express. God sees in us His property, 
and sees His image in us just as a sovereign of a 
country sees His image on a coin, but that image is 
almost obliterated by sin. The faint outlines are still 
there, but the dust of the earth, or the constant habit 
of sin has worn them away or disfigured their impress, 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 283 

but God in His mercy wishes to have that impress re- 
newed and the coin restored to the royal treasury. 

In these two parables it may be noticed that what 
is recovered by the owners of the sheep or groat has 
not been lost by any fault of its own. It is simply 
a thing lost and missed and regretted and sought and 
found and rejoiced over, but, continues Father Mesch- 
ler, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, the object 
lost is not a material thing, not merely a coin stamped 
with the divine image, but a child, a being gifted with 
reason and beloved by his father. This is the real 
position of man to God; man is a child of God, fa- 
vored, tenderly loved and raised to the highest dignity 
and union with Him, with the right of inheritance of 
the kingdom of His Father. From this ensues the 
greatness of the error and misfortune when such a 
being separates himself from God and is lost as the 
result of his own perversity; still the love of God pur- 
sues him and strains itself for his recovery because he 
belongs to Him. 

" A certain man had two sons. And the younger 
of them said to his father: Father, give me the por- 
tion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided 
unto them his substance. And the younger son went 
into a far-off country, and there wasted his substance 
living riotously. And after he spent all, there came a 
mighty famine in that country and he began to be in 
want. He was obliged to seek employment in herding 
swine and, suffering from hunger, he had to eat the 
food of the swine. He commenced to think of the 
happiness he enjoyed in his father's house, and how 



284 The Messiah's Message 

foolish he was to leave it, and even now while he was 
starving the servants in his father's house were rilled 
with the luxuries of his father's home. I will arise 
and go unto my father and say to him : Father, I have 
sinned against heaven and before thee and I am not 
worthy to be called thy son. And arising up he came 
to his father, and when his father saw him, he was 
moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon 
his neck and kissed him." 

Parables are mines filled with gems. Our Lord in 
this parable seems to intend us to see that all sin begins 
in the love of liberty, the love to have our own inde- 
pendence. After the love of independence He places 
alienation from God, it is from Him we wish to eman- 
cipate ourselves, we would be glad if we could be free 
of Him, get out of His sight, and if possible put Him 
out of our thoughts. After we get emancipated from 
God we live riotously, and as the Gospel expressly 
puts it, " The prodigal son devoured his substance with 
harlots." When our lower passions master our higher 
spirit, every thought is molded to their form, and the 
noblest faculties of our soul become menial servants 
for their sinful gratification. Our minds then be- 
come materialized and our lives sensualized. The 
Prodigal was allowed to take his fill of worldly and 
sensual enjoyments, and then he was led to see and 
feel their utter incapacity to give true and lasting sat- 
isfaction. There is always a great famine in the land 
of the world without God, for the needs and aspira- 
tions of the human mind and heart cannot find what 
they want here, the wants of the soul are of another 



The Resurrection of the Sinner, 285 

kind. There is always a hunger among the children 
of the world of pleasure, who are so restless in their 
pursuit of one false good after another and are still 
over and over again disappointed in what they fondly 
hope may satisfy the disquiet of their minds and con- 
sciences, and furnish some food for the craving of 
their hearts. The whole voice of human experience 
teaches us that, after man has gained every object of 
ambition in this world, he finds nothing that really can 
make him happy. Man is always in search of an 
object to which he may attach himself, on which he 
may rest, and in which he may find content, but he 
can't find that either in himself or in his environment. 
It would be the delirium of human pride for the soul 
to strive to find that object here. The world is an 
impostor who claims to give what it cannot furnish, 
promises what it cannot perform. Its pleasures cannot 
supply the goods which even the lower appetites de- 
mand of them. The world has no true goods to give, 
no wholesome employment on which to occupy its 
slaves. It is a gilded bubble that breaks into thin air 
when we touch it. The vicissitudes of history tell a 
tale of its emptiness and instability; notwithstanding 
that this stares us in the face, see how many are taken 
up with its haste and hurry until they become dizzy 
and giddy from a surfeit of its pleasures, or kneeling 
before its shrine of business become swallowed up in 
its gurgling vortex. All it can command is degrada- 
tion ever lower and lower, the restless, bestial indul- 
gence of the lower passions, grosser and grosser as the 
appetite loses all remains of refinement and decency. 



286 



The Messiah's Message 



Are we forced to conclude from these observations 
that the world is a monument of failure on the part 
of the Creator, and it were better that there was no 
world, and no such creature as man? Certainly not. 
The world and man are a manifestation of God's 
power and glory and are therefore good. They are 
mirrors in which shine reflections of his beauty, and 
a canticle of an endless song of His excellence and 
glory. But it is the abuse of the world's bounteous 
gifts and our faculties that disturbs the order of 
things, and places us in that degraded position pictured 
by the Prodigal Son feeding with a lowly herd. 

God does not abandon sinners. He who gave sight 
to the blind and relieved the most distressed in body 
and soul, won't turn His eyes from the penitent sin- 
ner. He warns sinners in many ways internally and 
externally against the moral suicide they are com- 
mitting. He lets them have their own way if they 
insist upon it, and His Providence waits upon them 
as they run on in their reckless course, ever ready to 
seize on the opportunity which they may give Him 
of bringing them to their senses by the experience they 
gather from the emptiness and fickleness of the world, 
by the slavery of sin, of the need of God of which 
man cannot divest himself. 

The man who has lost one sheep out of one thou- 
sand and goes to search after that which was lost, and 
the woman who has lost her groat do not rest until 
they find that which they have lost. In the same way 
God does not cease pleading with the soul which has 
abandoned Him until his conversion takes place. 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 287 

But what parable could describe the tenderness, the 
perseverance, the efficacy of the graces by which God 
woos back the soul ? The change of heart is the beau- 
tiful fruit of divine grace which causes the sinner to 
reflect and say, " How many hired servants in my 
father's house abound with bread and I here perish 
with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and 
say to Him: Father, I have sinned against heaven 
and before Thee, I am not worthy to be called Thy 
son, make me one of thy hired servants." Here the 
thought of the goodness of the Father appeals to him, 
because the menials in His home are abundantly sup- 
plied with food. He knows well that by his many 
crimes he has forfeited his father's love, still his fa- 
ther was so good that he believed he would not turn 
away from him but offer him the service of a merce- 
nary. 

Never did our Lord picture the sinner's wanderings 
with more vivid colors; every touch in the likeness 
stirs the soul, and brings back the features of our own 
life-story before our eyes. For what man of us is 
there who has lived in this world without knowing, 
without seeing all around him those very illusions 
which befooled this prodigal boy, this deceiving mir- 
age which deludes the thirsty traveler in the desert of 
his sinful life ? Who is there among us that does not 
see in our daily intercourse with our fellow men that 
thirst for an unbridled and unhampered liberty, that 
passing intoxication of freedom which devoured the 
Prodigal Son? Do we not see the prodigal child of 
the gospel at every street corner of our city, whose 



288 



The Messiah's Message 



heart has become an outlet for his soul to stray away 
from divine grace and to adore and worship the false 
god of concupiscence? 

Away in the wild woods, the lion and tiger, the bear 
and the panther when kindly treated hear with obedi- 
ence the voice of their master, and lick the hand of 
him who feeds them, but the prodigal son of the world 
gluts himself with the bounteous gifts of God as if 
he had no master to thank, no God-Giver to worship, 
no Judge to fear, no thunderbolts to dread. Is not 
the earth furnished by God with good things for our 
benefit? The animal kingdom is created by Him for 
our utility and delight; the vegetable kingdom with 
various species both for our ornament as well as for 
our sustenance; the mineral world is inexhaustible 
with its precious metals for our profit, and its gems 
to adorn our beauty; the heavens labor incessantly 
for us ; by the command of God they rain down their 
moisture and assisted by the warmth of the sun im- 
part fecundity to the sterile land, in consequence of 
which the golden harvests yield their abundance, and 
the trees drop their mellow fruits for us. All the 
elements are tributaries from God to nourish and to 
sustain us. All combine to work for us at the com- 
mand of Him who rules all, and what return do we 
make to God for this unparalleled goodness? The 
answer is black ingratitude; nay, more, we enjoy these 
gifts like the prodigal son, as a seasoning for our 
sensuous appetites, and worship them as a god con- 
fined to the limits of the world. 

What is the result of the whir of this loud-resound- 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 



289 



ing century with its steam engines, its printing presses, 
its complicated network of railroads, and electric 
appliances but to drown the voice of God and pile up 
riches upon the altar of wealth for man to adore and 
worship profoundly ! What is the result of pampering 
ourselves with all the bounteous gifts of God but to 
make life a luxury, and by feasting and revelry render 
that life a sordid sty where man imbrutes himself ! 
What is the issue of all our intellectual toil and worry 
but a hunger for vainglory, for the different stages 
of history are like so many sign-boards pointing 
out to us the heroic deeds of men stained with the dark 
plots of blind pride and mad ambition. 

Would to God we could say with the poet, " Vain 
pomp and glory of the world, I hate thee." Would to 
God we could say with the wise King, " Vanity of 
vanities and all is vanity." Would to God we could 
say with the Prodigal Son of the gospel, " I will 
return to the house of my father, and say, Father, I 
have sinned against heaven and Thee, I am not worthy 
to be called Thy son." Who is it among men, who 
has not felt himself to be living in a strange land when 
he is living an existence without God? Who is it 
that does not feel a yearning, a void within him which 
his passions are powerless to satisfy? Who is it that 
does not feel the awful anguish clutching his awaken- 
ing soul to his enthrallment in the companionship of a 
filthy herd? Happy is the man who amid this heart- 
heaviness lifts his eyes heavenward, rises up and re- 
turns to his God. Thrice happy is that soul, which, 
when overwhelmed with the realization of its sins, re- 



290 



The Messiah's Message 



members the forgiveness whereof Jesus held forth 
such marvelous tokens. While the ruined spendthrift 
is still afar off, his father sees him, he is filled with 
piti fulness for his boy, makes haste towards him, falls 
upon his neck and kisses him, and says to his serv- 
ants, bring forth the richest robe and put it on him, 
and place a ring upon his hand, and shoes on his 
feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, let us 
eat and make good cheer, for this son of mine was 
dead, and is brought to life again, he was lost and is 
found. All this joy is found in the fact that a con- 
fession from sin is a recovery of what had been lost, 
a coming to life of what had been dead, for there is 
such a thing in this warm earth as a dead soul. 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE SINNER 



Part III 

" Pray that your flight may not be in winter." — Matth. 24. 

The descriptive narrative of the last day by St. 
Matthew should send a shiver through every credulous 
reader. Words and imagination fail to give expres- 
sion or realize the trembling and crouching fear of 
man at the awe-stricken appearance of that dreadful 
day — the day of wrath, the day of anger, the day of 
judgment. 

When the graves will become tenantless, and the 
sheeted dead will rise for final judgment. 

"By the clock 'tis day 
And yet night strangles the traveling lamp 
That darkness does the face of the earth entomb 
When living light should kiss it." 

And sinful man will appeal to the Sun and Moon 
to hide their fires, and the blinking stars to quench 
their lights, to cover up light with the blanket of dark- 
ness, that he may not see the coming of his Judge. 
And to the yesty waves that confound and swallow 
up navigation, he will cry : " Burst your shores, 
break those bonds that prison your waters, that in 
their wild rush I may be swallowed up in their briny 
depths. And ye, O mountains of untold time, whose 

291 



292 The Messiah's Message 



peaks kiss heaven, melt and dissolve, and into your 
boiling cauldron let me ( sink that I may not see my 
avenging God." 

Bearing on this subject I wish to give you an ac- 
count of what came under my own observation in Italy 
during an earthquake. 

On a summer's evening when the beautiful azure 
sky of Italy appeared to be as calm as heaven, and 
nothing appeared likely to disturb its serenity, suddenly 
the blue canopy changed into a lurid glare. Then 
clouds stealthily crept from their hiding-places and 
hung lazily between the sky and the earth. At first 
they glowed with a golden glow and appeared as if 
interlaced with fire; here'and there were deep red spots 
and streaks as if they were stabbed and gashed by the 
strokes of a mighty sword. Then by degrees this fiery 
appearance grew pale and silvery, then changed into 
a lead-like color, until at last an inky cloak covered 
the whole heavens. Large heavy squadrons of clouds 
mustered and careered before the winds, like the 
serried ranks of two bitter and opposing armies await- 
ing the command to battle. They looked angry and 
scowling. We heard in the distance the first alarm 
of battle, the signal was a . low murmuring peal of 
thunder, then it sounded like " cars rattling over a 
stony street," then came the loud roar of heaven's 
artillery. Peal rattled on top of peal, and louder and 
louder grew that rattle, and deeper and deeper grew 
that roar. Like the barking and crackling of rifles, 
and the booming of artillery the thunder rang out 
unceasingly, and the deep muffled growls from the 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 



293 



earth's bowels appeared to be the reverberating echoes. 
The inky looking heavens were now and then aglow 
with the flashes of lightning, which were as varied in 
their colors as they were in their shapes, sometimes 
zigzag, sometimes like Neptune's trident, and some- 
times like the broad flashing sword of the avenging 
God. God seemed angry at something, for He shot 
His bolts hither and thither with avenging quickness. 
As the battle of the heavens raged, a low hoarse growl 
was heard beneath our feet, and without further warn- 
ing the earth trembled and quaked, houses rocked and 
toppled over, crushing their terrified inmates beneath 
the debris. The dumb animals were panic-stricken, 
they realized that the physical laws of nature were un- 
hinged, that there was an unusual jarring and dis- 
ruptive noise. The horses neighed and stampeded, 
the cows lowed, the sheep bleated, and the fowls both 
domestic and wild flew from their roosts and sought 
protection from man, and man sought protection in 
prayer to God to have mercy on him. The majority 
of the inhabitants of the city fled from the crumbling 
walls and camped on an adjacent hill believing it to be 
the safest refuge. And while there with glistening 
eyes and throbbing hearts, absorbed in prayer sup- 
plicating God's mercy, quite unexpectedly the hill 
shook, and from its summit gushed a torrent of black 
liquid lava as if hell had burst, and rolling and rush- 
ing in giant-like bounds down the sides of the hill it 
carried some hundreds of human beings amid shrieks 
and groans into a chasm that yawned from the burst- 
ing of the earth's crust. 



294 



The Messiah's Message 



If such be the confusion, terror and consternation 
resulting from a disturbance of the earth's elements 
in only a small corner of the world, what must we 
expect when the whole earth and heavens are rocking 
to pieces, and God, their Master, appears to pass judg- 
ment on His creatures. 

With what deep reflection ought we not to hear and 
profit by the warning given to us by Christ when He 
says to prepare for that dreadful day, a warning in 
clear and unmistakable language, " Pray that your 
flight may not be in winter." For those who make 
a journey in winter have difficulties and obstacles to 
overcome and encounter that mar to a great extent 
the success of their journey. First, the winds are cold 
and sharp, " the air bites shrewdly." Second, the 
earth is sluggish and heavy which renders the roads 
almost impassable. Third, the sun shines for less time 
and with less warmth. The mystical meaning of our 
Lord's words is a warning to sinners not to postpone 
their conversion from a life of sin to a life of virtue, 
to that last hour of illness, because inconveniences 
arising in that last term of life approaching death are 
so numerous and insurmountable as to render us 
powerless to make peace with the offended majesty 
of God. It is the winter time of our life, when all 
that is mortal is withering, and the decaying appear- 
ance of the world's garment portrays the inertness 
and soulless powers of all our faculties. Prepare 
therefore beforehand and do not defer reconciliation 
with your God to those hours when you will be unable 
to do so. Temptations are like the winds; storms 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 295 

concentrate their energies during the day that they 
may burst forth with greater fury towards evening. 
" Woe to the earth and the sea," says St. John, " be- 
cause the devil has come down unto you having great 
wrath, knowing that he had but a short time " (Apoc. 
12). The perverse will of the sinner is to be more 
dreaded at the hour of death than at any other time; 
for his heart has become as cold as a block of ice, 
and its sluggishness and indifference can be compared 
to the heaviness and inertness of the earth during 
winter. The eyes of his soul will become veiled with 
a great blindness, and the impenetrable darkness of the 
approaching night of death has already set in and en- 
veloped him in its thick folds. " Give ye glory to the 
Lord your God, before it be dark, and before your 
feet stumble on the dark mountains; you shall look 
for light and He shall turn it into the shadow of death 
and darkness." Thus spoke the Prophet Jeremiah. 

The principal cause of winter is the withdrawal of 
the sun's heat from the earth although the sun is 
nearer to the earth than in the summer time. Owing 
to this withdrawal of heat the earth becomes congealed 
and lifeless. God acts similarly towards the soul of 
a hardened sinner. He withdraws the rays of His 
divine grace, and owing to this withdrawal there is- 
no warmth of the love of God in that soul, conse- 
quently it becomes cold, stiff, inert, and lifeless. St. 
Paul admonishes us how we should make our life 
profitable by laying up treasures in the observance of 
God's law with which wealth we secure rich dividends. 
" In an accepted time have I heard thee, and in the 



296 



The Messiah's Message 



day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold now is 
the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salva- 
tion " (II Cor.). And in the Book of Proverbs we 
read the fearful words of God addressed to those who 
do not profit of the words referred to by St. Paul. 
" Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear, 
they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me, 
because they have hated instruction and have not re- 
ceived the fear of the Lord " (Prov. 1). 

With such a warning are we not unreasonable and 
unjust to ourselves if we do not avail ourselves of the 
many favorable opportunities afforded us to fortify 
the citadel of our soul when time is at our disposal 
by laying in a store of spiritual strength for that 
severe ordeal and combat that must take place at the 
hour of death. All men, in every sphere and stage 
of life, toil and labor to obtain the one object of that 
avocation in which they are placed. The general in 
command as well as the soldier in the rank and file 
occupy their time in studying strategy and drill that 
will bring them victory in the battlefield. The ad- 
vocate devotes all his energies in collecting evidence, 
and sifts and probes the arguments of the prosecutor 
that he may win his client's case. The athlete spends 
many months in severe training that he may become 
a champion. Each and all concentrate their time, 
their intellect, their physical powers, to gain that one 
object which each is in pursuit of; they do not defer 
their preparation to the day of contest, if they did, 
their attempts would be futile. No, but day after day, 
month after month, year after year, brain, sinew, and 



The Resurrection of the Sinner 297 

muscle are called into service to get possession of the 
coveted prize, a prize that rust can eat and the moth 
can destroy, a prize that is transient, that will mold 
and wither away. But what little time do we give, 
what indifference do we show towards the winning 
of that prize which nothing can corrode, the prize of 
all prizes, the home of happiness in the eternal king- 
dom of God! 



20 



" LET US PRAY " 



"And I will pour out on the house of David, and upon the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace, and of prayers." — 
Zach ARIAS 12. 10. 

One of the most baneful dreams of pagan philoso- 
phy was a belief that man had no need of a Deity to 
acquire truth or practice good; and therefore for this 
purpose he should not demand of God any aid. From 
this source arose the infamous blasphemy of the 
Stoics, viz. : " That on no account should virtuous 
actions be attributed to God." From this impure 
spring was derived that sacrilegious sarcasm of the 
Epicureans which taught that " God gives us riches 
and life, but with regard to probity of heart we have 
no need of Him, we are quite sufficient of ourselves." 

What were the dreadful effects of this pernicious 
doctrine? The Royal Prophet has depicted them for 
us, when speaking of his own days he graphically 
portrays the future. " The fool hath said in his 
heart : There is no God. They are corrupt, and are 
become abominable in their ways: there is none that 
doth good, no not one. The Lord hath looked down 
from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there 
be any that understand and seek God. They are all 
gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: 
there is none that doth good, no not one. Their 

298 



Let us Pray 



299 



throat is an open sepulcher: with their tongues they 
acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their 
lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; 
their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and 
unhappiness in their ways : and the way of peace they 
have not known: there is no fear of God before their 
eyes." It was a time when humanity exerted itself 
to forget the God of probity, the God of purity and 
everything that was immaculate, and to worship the 
god of lewdness and sin. The age was grewsome, 
revolting and horrible. There was no pure atmos- 
phere in those days, a murky, ulcerated, pestiferous 
atmosphere hung around the souls of men as a filthy 
pall, and all the soul's faculties under this inky pol- 
luted shroud became diseased, perverted, and degen- 
erate. Every passion of man had its shrine, and 
around that shrine the soul steeped in its lecherous 
passions worshiped the god of uncleanliness. Into 
what deep abysses of degradation did not heathenism 
fling man? What did the Saviour of the world do to 
draw man from this abyss, and introduce into his soul 
that fertile sanctity which he divorced? The Prophet 
Zacharias tells us in the words quoted : " I will pour 
out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and prayers." 

Truly may this spirit be called the spirit of grace 
and prayer. Because from the time of our Lord's 
death, it lives and breathes in Christianity. It pro- 
vokes the divine mercy, it persuades the divine maj- 
esty, and sustains us in our weakness. It raises man 
to God and brings God to man. It bridges the mighty 



300 



The Messiah's Message 



chasm that separates heaven from earth. Prayer is 
a substitute for the bodily presence of Jesus. In 
prayer we keep up a continual conversation with God, 
we invite Him into a room within the walls of our 
soul and there in sweet communings we speak to 
Him. And while enamored with the presence of our 
divine Guest we breathe those unspeakable moanings, 
those songs of exile often choked with the hot tears 
of love that our union with our God is so long de- 
ferred. A soul without prayer is like a plucked 
flower. There was beauty, there was color, there was 
perfume when that flower bloomed, but now it is 
withered and all have disappeared; a soul that prays 
has with it the beauty, the bloom, the perfume of 
heaven, but a soul that does not pray wears the false 
colors of the world, and its sweet-smelling perfume is 
substituted by that which rises from the mildew of 
spiritual death. 

St. Luke on one occasion asked our Lord to teach 
him how to pray, but St. Matthew in his narrative 
of the prayer of the Canaanite woman shows us the 
conditions that should accompany prayer. When 
Christ left Judea and journeyed towards Tyre and 
Sidon in the territory of the Canaanites, we would be 
inclined to attribute His departure from Judea to the 
calumnies of the Scribes and Pharisees with reference 
to Himself. No ! He did not leave for this reason, 
He did not abandon His people as a punishment but 
as an invention of His mercy. Paternal love is as 
industrious as it is tender. When a loving father 
does not find in his children a corresponding obedience 



Let us Pray 



301 



and affection he pretends to leave his property to 
strangers, he threatens to disinherit them, and thus 
utilizes the threat as a corrective of their faults. In 
like manner did our blessed Lord leave Judea and pass 
into the lands of Cana, so that by His action He might 
draw to Himself the hearts of the Jewish people by 
showing them that there was a probability of their 
losing, through their ingratitude, the grace of His 
coming. 

Among the crowd of people who were accompany- 
ing our Lord on this occasion, there was a woman 
with a pallid countenance, dishevelled hair, neglected 
in dress, startled looking eyes; her whole appearance 
indicated some great trouble. Desolate looking and 
weeping she approaches our Lord and cries aloud. 
" Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David : my 
daughter is grievously troubled with a devil." She 
was a woman of high rank, a Canaanite. She com- 
menced her prayer based upon a pure and perfect faith 
supported by a remarkable confidence. From the 
gospel narrative she would appear to say : " You, the 
son of God, and the son of David. Thou who art 
God but now being made man you inspire me with a 
full confidence of your power and goodness. The 
angels may tremble before God in heaven, but I a 
miserable woman have no fear to approach God made 
man, for this hast Thou become man that man pre- 
sent himself to you, and speak to you, and show you 
his wounds, O divine Healer. I have no need of a 
mediator. I come myself without fear as a daughter 
of man and ask that mercy which man cannot deny 



302 



The Messiah's Message 



to man." And what reply does Christ make to the 
prayer of this distracted woman, a prayer so full 
of faith, confidence and fervor? He does not even 
look at her. He pretends not to hear her. He pays 
no attention to her. But how comes this? An af- 
flicted mother prays, implores, pierces the azure sky 
with her cries, and Christ is silent. St. Chrysostom 
solves this mysterious silence of Our Lord. " It is 
not the effect/' he says, " of hardness of heart, but 
it is the industry of His love." While He appears 
to despise the suppliant He wishes to afford her an 
opportunity of showing to the world the profound 
wisdom, the precious virtue of perseverance that she 
had locked up in her soul. If Christ had tarried with 
a reply, it was not because the Doctor of mercy 
despised the prayer of the miserable, but to give us 
to understand, that to obtain the spirit of grace, the 
perseverance of the spirit of prayer is necessary. We 
see this clearly illustrated in the action of this woman, 
when she saw her prayer received with such cold in- 
difference, not even worthy of a reply. She did not 
lose confidence or courage, or return heart-broken and 
despondent to her home where her more miserable 
daughter lay; far from it, she continued on the way 
still crying out : " Oh, Son of David have pity on 
me." Her cries so arrested the attention of the 
Apostles that they addressed our Lord, and requested 
Him to send her away for " she crieth after us." 
But the intercession of the Apostles was not more 
successful than that of the woman herself, for our 
Saviour appeared to assume an air of cold contempt. 



Let us Pray 



303 



" I was not," He said, " sent but to the sheep that 
are lost of the house of Israel." The Apostles then 
turning to the woman, probably may have said to her : 
You see yourself that He has decided not to hear your 
prayer. It is quite useless for you to persist any 
longer. Return in peace. The words of the Apostles 
had no effect on her, for she still cried aloud, " Lord 
have pity on me." 

As the bird cannot fly unless both wings are brought 
into action, so is it with prayer, to faith must be joined 
humility. These are the wings with which we can 
fly in the hour of prayer to lofty heights, and without 
these we must remain glued to the earth. As humility 
without faith would be debasement, so would faith 
without humility be presumption, and presumptive 
pride has no hope of obtaining a favor from God, for 
it is to the humble that He opens the treasury of His 
gifts. 

Meanwhile our Lord entered a house and cautioned 
the disciples not to inform anyone of His whereabouts. 
But in vain could He conceal Himself from her who 
sought consolation both for her own soul as well as 
for that of her daughter. She searched to and fro 
among the multitude for our Lord, and entering the 
house where He was concealed, seeing Him she rushed 
to where He was seated and throwing herself at His 
feet she adored Him and flung her anguished prayer 
at Him, " Lord, help me." Here we would imagine 
that the Heart of the Saviour would at once yield 
when He saw a mother broken-hearted, prostrated, 
adoring Him, and crying out, " Lord, help me." He 



304 



The Messiah's Message 



who defended the adulterous woman, He who advo- 
cated the cause of the Magdalen, and dismissed both 
full of joy and gratitude for the divine graces re- 
ceived, He who knew what maternal love was now 
saw a mother's bleeding heart throbbing in a piteous 
prayer for relief, " Lord, won't you help me ? " NO ! 
said the meek Lamb of God whose gentle voice was 
always sweet to those afflicted ! NO ! said the Light of 
the world who gave sight to the blind. NO ! said the 
Divine Healer who dried up the sores of the ulcerous 
and the leprous. NO! said the voice of the Omnip- 
otent at whose utterance demons fled to hide them- 
selves in the dark dungeons of hell. NO ! said Jesus. 
" For it is not good to take the bread of the children, 
and to cast it to dogs." At such an expression coming 
from the lips of Christ we would be forced to con- 
clude, that had she not faith she would have arisen 
from her prostrate position not alone in disgust, but 
boiling with anger; and between the grief at being 
repulsed and shame at being called a dog there should 
be no wonder if her humility changed into pride, her 
faith into contempt, her adoration into blasphemy. 
No, she does not speak so, she does not act so, but 
with an air of modesty, simplicity, and candor she 
quickly replies, " Yes, I am a dog, and the whelps eat 
of the crumbs that fall from their master's table, 
therefore I am entitled to a crumb." What a reply, 
what memorable words, which are we to admire most, 
the force of faith, the heroism of her patience, or the 
wonder of her humility? Not alone does she give 
the title of Lord to Christ; not alone does she call the 



Let us Pray 



305 



Jews children dear to our Lord, not alone does she 
consider herself a dog when compared to them, but 
she proclaims the Jews her superior; she humbles her- 
self before all, she places herself at the feet of all. 
Her words sublime in their simplicity, eloquent in their 
precision found the avenue that led to the heart of 
Jesus. They deposed the austerity of His counte- 
nance, they broke the curb that held His tenderness, 
they unlocked His heart, and with a heavenly sweet- 
ness beaming on the face of our Lord He turned to- 
wards the woman and addressed her. " Oh, woman, 
great is thy faith, be it done unto thee as thou wilt: 
and her daughter was cured from that hour." Thus 
do we see in the apparent hardness of our Lord the 
industrious artifice of a most tender charity. He 
did not call her a dog except to win for her the merit 
of being a patient and humble woman according to 
His heart. He did not defer the granting of her 
prayer except to make it more complete and prompt. 
He did not treat her as a stranger except to elevate 
her to the rank of His own family to whom He de- 
nies nothing. He did not wish to despise her as a 
Gentile except for the purpose of proposing her as 
a model for all Christians. He did not humble her 
except that he might exalt her. We find therefore 
in fervent prayer the medicine for all the infirmities 
of the soul, the balsam of all kinds of wounds, the 
comfort of the afflicted, the antidote of vice; it will 
quench the corrosive fires of our passions to a cold 
cinder: fervent prayer is moreover the staff upon 
which all virtues lean, the fountain of all grace, the 



3.o6 



The Messiah's Message 



key that locks hell and opens heaven. Remember that 
in no matter what sphere of life you move, you are 
but a poor mariner tempest-tossed on the wide ocean 
of a world that is cold and shelterless, and whether its 
wild waves, upon which your little bark floats, be dark 
and sullen, or bear the white crest of joy, let your 
chart and compass be prayer as you drift along, and 
it will be the friendly sail too that will pick you up 
and bring you into the placid waters, into the calm of 
the peace of God. 



BLESSED EUCHARIST 



Part I 

"Behold this child is set for the fall and resurrection of 
many in Israel." — Luke 7. 24. 

These words were prophesied by Simeon of the 
Infant Jesus, and are verified in His history, and in 
the history of His doctrine and religion. This re- 
ligion and this doctrine, which is the source of resur- 
rection and life for some, and for ruin and death of 
others, has met and will always meet in the world 
many loving souls who seek it, and many who are 
indifferent towards it; disciples who will embrace it, 
and enemies who will impugn it ; panegyrists who will 
laud it, and detractors who will discredit it; martyrs 
who will confess it, and tyrants who will persecute it; 
and amid the acclamations of some and the blas- 
phemies of others, loved and hated, honored and de- 
rided, like unto its divine Author, it shows to us its 
career upon earth by leaving the one to perish and 
elevating the other to eternal life. 

Of all the doctrines of Jesus Christ, of all the 
mysteries of His holy religion, the prophecy of that 
holy old man is particularly fulfilled in the ineffable 
doctrine and sublime mystery of the Blessed Eucharist. 
In as much as it is the object of devotion, adoration, 

307 



3o8 The Messiah's Message 



and worship, the symbol of unity, the hope, the life, 
the love, and delight of the Church, it is in like manner 
the object of contradiction, of sarcasm, of insult, and 
the blasphemy of heresy. We can also say of Jesus 
Christ hidden in this mystery, " Behold He is set for 
the ruin and the resurrection of many in Israel." 

When our Lord was promising that He would in- 
stitute this sublime Sacrament, in the different disposi- 
tions with which this promise or revelation was 
received is vividly represented the injustice of those 
Christians who to-day impugn it, and the virtue, the 
glory, the felicity of those who believe in it. 

After the miracle of the loaves and fishes the multi- 
tude followed our Lord. Seeing the people following 
Him, He thus addressed them : " Amen, Amen, I say 
to you, you seek me, not because you have seen mira- 
cles but because you did eat of the loaves and were 
filled . . . labor not for the meat which perish- 
eth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting 
which the Son of Man will give you." 

" They said therefore unto Him : What shall we 
do that we may work the works of God? " 

" Jesus answered them and said. This is the work 
of God that you believe in Him whom He hath sent." 

" They said therefore to Him : What sign there- 
fore dost thou show that we may see and believe in 
thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat 
manna in the desert, as it is written. He gave them 
bread from heaven to eat." 

" Then Jesus said to them. Amen, Amen, I say to 



Blessed Eucharist 



309 



you. Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but 
my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven." 

" They said therefore unto Him. Lord, give us al- 
ways this bread." 

" And Jesus saith to them, I am the bread of life, 
he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that 
believeth in me shall never thirst." 

" The Jews therefore murmured at Him because He 
had said: I am the living bread which came down 
from heaven. Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph and 
Mary, whose father and mother we know ? How then 
saith thee, I came down from heaven ? " 

" Jesus therefore answered and said to them : 
Murmur not among yourselves. I am the bread of 
life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert and 
are dead. ... I am the living bread which came 
down from heaven. . . . If any man eat of this 
bread he shall live forever: and the bread that I will 
give is my flesh, for the life of the world." 

" The Jews therefore strove among themselves, say- 
ing: How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" 

" Then Jesus said to them : Amen, Amen, I say to 
you; except you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man 
and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. 
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath 
life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last 
day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is 
drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh 
my blood abideth in me and I in him." 

So spoke the Eternal Word of God publicly in the 



The Messiah's Message 



Synagogue in the presence of a great multitude, before 
the Pharisees, the Scribes, Sadducees, disciples, and 
Apostles. The more they murmured the more em- 
phatic did our Lord become in inculcating this doctrine 
which He was now only foretelling. 

But now let us see how the disciples and apostles 
received this doctrine. When a general with his army 
engaged in battle against a strong and powerful ene- 
my sees in the fiercest part of the fight a section of 
his soldiers desert him and fly to the ranks of the 
enemy, what must not be the dismay of that general ! 
Or when a loving parent sees his children not alone 
forsake him in the hour of distress and anguish, but 
assist the hand of a crushing opponent, what must the 
thoughts of that parent be? Not alone did the Jews 
reject what Christ was teaching, but His own disciples 
hearing Him, said : " This is hard and who can bear 
it? " Yes, the opposing ranks of our Lord's enemies 
are swollen, the opposition grows, incredulity be- 
comes more manifest. Under these peculiar circum- 
stances what is the action of our Lord? Instead of 
removing the difficulty that filled the mind of His 
disciples that He might win them back, He increases 
the difficulty by saying : " I see that my discourse 
confounds you, scandalizes you. You cannot be per- 
suaded that it is possible for Me to give you My flesh 
to eat while on earth, but this difficulty will increase 
when I have ascended to heaven with My body, yet I 
will give it to man to eat on earth. After this many 
of the disciples went back, and walked no more with 
Him. ,, 



Blessed Eucharist 311 

Our Lord then turned to the apostles and said: 
" Will you also go away ? " You have heard the diffi- 
culty, you have heard My doctrine, you have heard the 
mystery revealed. Do you believe in the promise I 
made? Am I exacting too much of your reason? 
Select now whom are you to follow. Either be with 
those who sooner than humiliate their intellect, aban- 
don Me, or receive with humility of spirit My words 
and remain with Me. Peter's heart was touched at 
these words, and he suddenly burst forth in an elo- 
quent act of faith. " Lord, to whom shall we go but 
to Thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life!" 

One year passed in the life of our Lord before that 
ever-memorable night came when at supper with His 
twelve apostles He fulfilled the promise made in the 
revelation which I have just described according to 
St. John. Having washed the feet of the apostles, 
He returned to His place at the table, and taking bread 
into His hands He blessed it, saying : " Take ye and 
eat of this, for this is my Body. And taking the 
chalice He gave thanks : and gave them to drink, say- 
ing: Drink ye all of this for this is my Blood of the 
New Testament which shall be shed for many unto 
remission of sins." He becomes an integral part of 
creation, institutes the Most Holy Sacrifice of the New 
Testament, and founds the Catholic Priesthood. 
How simple are these words, yet how sublime; how 
plain, yet how mysterious; how very short, yet how 
eloquent. He fulfilled the promise which He clearly 
defined some twelve months previous. He selected 
earthly bread to be the matter to cover the invisible 



312 



The Messiah's Message 



and heavenly bread. Under the accidents of corporal 
bread which sustains the life of the body, is concealed 
the spiritual nourishment that renders both body and 
soul immortal. The apostles see there and then the 
truth of the mystery which they heard promised, and 
believed. This is the bread from heaven, superior to 
the manna. This is the source of the divine comfort 
which He promised to give them. We seem to hear 
Christ saying : " In this bread, no longer bread, I 
have placed my Body. In this wine, no longer wine, 
I have placed my Blood. You see now that HOW 
which your companions wished to examine. You see 
that HOW, while still living with you, I can give my 
flesh in food, and my blood in drink. You see now 
HOW is accomplished the mystery which was the sub- 
ject of such murmurings and of such apostasy when 
I revealed it. Take and eat, there is no room here 
for symbols or figures, but substance and reality. 
Moreover, I commission you to do this very similar 
act that you have seen me do. By the power of My 
word pronounced by you, and by your successors upon 
similar matter, bread and wine, you likewise will 
change them into My body and blood/' 

Have the apostles and their successors faithfully 
carried out these instructions? Yes. During the 
early centuries of the Church when the ministers of 
imperial vengeance perpetrated upon the disciples of 
Christ every form of punishment on account of their 
faith, the early Christians were permitted to retain in 
their houses and carry with them the Blessed Sacra- 
ment, in order that by receiving it they would derive 



Blessed Eucharist 313 

more courage to confess Jesus Christ in the hour of 
martyrdom. Again, those who are called catechumens 
were not in those days of persecution allowed to receive 
instructions on so august a Sacrament until they were 
first baptized. Why this rigorous prohibition; why 
this great respect for the Blessed Sacrament unless 
there was a firm belief in the Real Presence? 

About one thousand years before the coming of our 
Lord on earth, the Royal Prophet prophesied. " The 
kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met to- 
gether against the Lord, and against His Christ " 
(Ps. 2). But the impious raised their sacrilegious 
hands not alone against the Son of God-made man, 
but also directed their poisonous shafts against His 
divine Presence in the Blessed Sacrament by declaring 
it to be contrary to reason that one substance should 
be changed into another. There is nothing strange 
about one substance being changed into another, we 
see this occurring every day before our eyes. What 
is vegetation under the laws of nature but the con- 
version of one substance into another? Water from 
heaven, air, heat, earth, are changed into herbs, plants 
of the valleys and the mountains, into the trees of 
the forest, into the flowers and fruits of the garden. 
The bread we eat is a combination of many things 
transformed into grain. And all these changes are 
done by that very same God who converted the bread 
that once was earth into His Body. 

Do we not see evidence in our own bodies, clear and 

decisive, of a mystery somewhat similar? Is not the 

food we eat changed into other substances to form our 

21 



314 



The Messiah's Message 



body and nourish it? Why, therefore, should we 
deny to the power of God in His heavenly laboratory 
that which is being done momentarily in the laboratory 
of nature? Neither do we understand how these 
things are done in the order of nature.* Nevertheless, 
we have not the slightest doubt about their being done. 
Why not, therefore, believe in that eucharistic change, 
in that miracle of grace, although we don't understand 
it? 

But they urge that it is impossible that the whole 
Body of Christ be whole and entire in each particle 
of the Host. Why not? Could not the omnipotence 
of God do so? Is not the whole of this body of ours 
found once in a small germ ? Was not the mighty oak 
of the forest once in a small seed? Is not the eye of 
man a small thing yet see all it contains by reflection. 
Look over the plain and mountain side covered with 
innumerable objects, yet all these are contained by re- 
flection in the eye. Break a mirror into several parts 
and each part will reflect your face. For the same 
reason do we say that the small particle of the Host 
contains not alone our Lord whole and entire, but each 
particular part contains Him at the same time. Where 
is your soul? Philosophy speaks and maintains that 
it is there where it is felt, but we feel it in every part 
of the body; therefore it is whole and entire in every 
part of the body as it is whole and entire in the whole 
of the body. Where is God? He is in the world 
and in every part of the world. Why, therefore, can- 
not God put His humanity whole and entire in every 
part of that Host in which is found His divinity? But 



Blessed Eucharist 



315 



the enemies of the Real Presence say, in our illustra- 
tions of changeable substances the appearances change ; 
in the species of bread and wine after God takes up His 
residence there is no change of the appearances, while 
they say we maintain there is a change of substance; 
hence these are not correct illustrations. We do not 
maintain that they are perfect illustrations, because we 
are treating of a mystery which we shall never under- 
stand in this life of limitations. But bearing on this 
particular matter about the appearances not changing 
while the substance changes. In nature we have a 
piece of petrified wood retaining its appearances while 
its substance changes. Yes, the Blessed Sacrament 
is a great mystery ; there, hidden in that small particle 
is the omnipotent God, an everlasting victim of burn- 
ing love. How He is there we cannot explain any more 
than we can explain how a wonderful power is locked 
up in a piece of coal which was formed millions of 
years before man was made, in the carboniferous 
period, the age of gorgeous flora when a rank and 
luxuriant herbage cumbered every foot of the dank 
and steaming soil. Beneath this mass of black mineral 
lies a power almost incomprehensible, witnesses of 
which we have in the flames that roar in our chimneys, 
in the glowing furnaces that smelt our metals, in the 
moving power given to our ponderous engines that 
haul long dusky trains over the complicated network of 
our railroads, and to those gigantic ships that ride 
triumphantly the foaming ocean defying the raging 
storm. The marvelous force of electricity is another 
striking example of these hidden agents which we 



3i6 



The Messiah's Message 



harness and use for our great benefit, but what they 
are and how they are there we cannot explain. Why, 
therefore, should we be so exacting as to deny the 
presence of a Great Power concealed under the sacra- 
mental species because we cannot see it? 

True philosophy teaches that in all bodies there are 
matter and form, accidents and substances. The ac- 
cidents of matter are the taste and color and form. 
These are separate from the substance by virtue of 
Him who has created both the substance and the acci- 
dents under which the substance lies concealed. Our 
senses see the accidents only; the judging of the sub- 
stance does not come under the duties of the senses, 
but belongs to the intellect. Faith then proposes that 
the substance of the bread is changed into the sub- 
stance of the Body of our Lord, while the accidents, 
by divine virtue, divided from their natural substance 
remain the same. By the aid of our senses we only 
see the accidents in the Eucharistic bread, hence they 
are not deceived. Faith, therefore, does not contradict 
the senses but illumines the intellect and tells it that 
the substance of the bread is no longer there but has 
been changed into the Body of our Lord. Faith cor- 
rects the judgment of the intellect. Behind the sacra- 
mental veil of bread and wine we believe lies hidden 
from our senses the power of the omnipotent God 
who hurls thunderbolts against wicked men, the God 
who holds up the spheres and the reins of their govern- 
ment in His hands, the God whose voice assigned to 
the heavenly orbs their respective positions and by His 
orders move in regulated rotation singing an endless 



Blessed Eucharist 



317 



song of His excellence and His glory. We believe 
that behind the sacramental species is the soft and gen- 
tle voice of welcome of the meek Lamb of God to 
those who approach Him and receive Him worthily, 
as well as the roar of the lion of Juda against those 
who receive Him sacrilegiously. We believe behind 
the Eucharistic veil lies the adorable Heart that is ever 
pulsating under the vibration of love for man as well 
as sending up an incense offering of infinite value 
to the God-head. Every breath of our prayer, every 
aspiration of our love, every sigh of our agony stirs 
the mighty ocean of love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. Although He may be hidden from our view 
yet He is keenly alive to all that passes around Him. 
He catches every whisper of His visitors. His ador- 
able Heart is tremblingly alive to the whispering ac- 
cents of our love. 

Why not, therefore, cry out like St. Peter, " To 
whom, Lord, should we go except to thee, for thou 
hast the words of eternal life?" Every other teach- 
ing but Thine is deceitful. Every other light but Thee 
is darkness. It is for You to speak; for us to listen. 
It is for You to command and for us to obey. You 
are the Pastor ; we are the sheep of the fold. You are 
our Master; we the disciples. You are God; we are 
men. Behold the everlasting fountain of divine grace 
where the criminal stainings of human nature are 
washed away. The fountain in whose regenerating 
waters every form of sinful disease is cleansed. To 
whom, therefore, should we go but to Thee, O Lord? 
You are the Divine Physician who has brought us 



3i8 



The Messiah's Message 



every medicine of which our sick nature stood in need 
of. If our disease be pride we see God coming to us 
in humility. If our disease be sensuality we see God 
suffering in a flesh like our own, and giving us 
the law of self-denial as a cure in His example, for 
He lies under the sacramental species as a victim. 
If our disease be a hungering for the world's riches 
we see the inexhaustible wealth of God dwelling in 
poverty. Yes, to whom should we go but to Thee, 
O Lord? Thou art the fountain of eternal light and 
life. 



BLESSED EUCHARIST 



Part II 

" We being many are one Body, one Bread, all partake of the 
same Bread." — Paul, I Ep. Cor. io. 17. 

By these words we are brought face to face with 
the august mystery which is both the sacrifice 
whereby God receives the honor due to Him, and the 
sacrament containing within itself the nourishment 
of our souls. By these words we can have a clearer 
understanding of the unspeakable gift which our 
Saviour vouchsafed to bestow upon us the night be- 
fore He suffered — a gift that speaks to us of the 
deifying relation which is made to exist between 
God and the soul. The Holy Ghost has shed his 
light upon this truth. He has opened out the very 
depth of the mystery shown to us from the outset, 
the mystery of the Emmanuel. This Hebrew word 
means, God with us, and the prophet Isaias stating, 
that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and 
that his name shall be Emmanuel, clearly revealed 
not only the great mystery of the Incarnation of the 
divine and human natures in one Person, but fur- 
thermore by his prophetic words unveiled to us the 
wonderful mystery of the Blessed Eucharist, by which 
God, the Emmanuel, is not alone with man, but dwells 
in man. 

319 



320 



The Messiah's Message 



The primary object that God had in creating man 
was that man should live in union with God here on 
earth by loving Him, and when he had left this 
world he would continue that love and union here- 
after in heaven. But by the sin of our first parents 
that state of love and union was broken up. And 
it took an infinite Being to restore that union by 
appeasing the offended majesty of God. The means 
chosen by God to have that union restored was to send 
the Second Person of the adorable Trinity on earth 
to assume a human nature in the mystery of the 
Incarnation, and by victimizing that Man-God 
the offended majesty of God would be appeased 
and man restored to the loving embrace of God once 
more. 

However, before this great sacrifice would take 
place, God suggested sacrifices and rites to be made 
by the people figurative of that one sacrifice of the 
Adorable Victim. These sacrifices which were pre- 
scribed by God, were the ritual expression of man's 
early worship of God, and were offered by all genera- 
tions from Eden to Calvary; and even when idolatry 
lead mankind into the abyss of every crime, those 
sacrifices raised up their voice and kept up the 
prophecy which they were intended to proclaim, the 
prophecy of a victim of infinite worth. No doubt 
the mighty river of primitive tradition became im- 
pregnated with filthy elements as it flowed along, and 
transmitted worthless detritus and dangerous ma- 
terial in its muddy course; still it was through the 
rite of sacrifice the expectation of Christ was main- 



Blessed Eucharist 



321 



tained among nations. They kept alive the remem- 
brance of man's fall and the expectation of a 
Redeemer. They had another duty to perform be- 
sides representing the redemptive element, they ex- 
pressed also the union of God with man which was 
the primary object of man's creation. And they did 
it in the following manner : The general law observed 
by all nations when offering sacrifice was, that the 
people should partake of the victim offered. The 
portion of the victim destined for God was consumed 
by fire, and as the altar smoked it was transmitted to 
heaven; the portion destined for the people was taken 
and eaten by them. All this signified a sort of com- 
munion between heaven and earth, between man and 
God, and the fact of both partaking of the same 
sacred food showed that the receivers were made one. 
The victim, therefore, sacrificed was the bond of this 
double union, first between God and man, secondly 
between those who partook of the victim. 

Let us now pass to the sacrifice of Calvary of 
which these sacrifices were only types, and I cannot 
express the doctrine of this union better than to follow 
the language of Gueranger who says, the simple and 
hidden unity of the Son of God, by uniting and 
espousing to Himself the whole nature of man came 
forth from the Father into this visible many-crea- 
tured world of the senses and conforming Himself to 
this multiplicity without in any way changing His 
own oneness, uniting our lowliness with His own 
dignity, uniting our life with His own, uniting us as 
His members to Himself as our Head, He would 



322 



The Messiah's Message 



have us all be one with Himself, and thus restoring 
us to our lost union with God. 

On the night before He suffered death, the night 
before He offered Himself as a victim to His 
heavenly Father as the representative of mankind, 
He stretched out His hands and offered as a libation 
the blood of the grape. This offering is a miraculous 
anticipation of that offering of Himself which will 
take place on Calvary a few hours later when His 
blood will flow for man. " Take ye and eat ; this is 
my Body which shall be delivered for you. Take and 
drink this chalice which is the new Testament in 
my Blood. This do ye in commemoration of me." 
That is: As I am anticipating for your sake, the 
death that I am to suffer on the morrow, so you do 
this in commemoration of me, when I am ascended 
to my Father. By the words of consecration pro- 
nounced by the priest the tremendous mysteries are 
laid on the altar. He shows them veiled under the 
sacramental species; they are held up to the adoring 
multitude. The Host was one and now he divides it, 
he mystically multiplies and distributes unity and 
thus completes the sacrifice. This divine sacrament, 
which in its own essence is one, and simple, and in- 
divisible, lovingly multiplies itself under the exterior 
symbol of the species, in order that returning from the 
multiplicity of the receivers into the unity which is 
its own principle it will bring into unity them that 
received it, and thus is perpetuated the union between 
God and man which was originated in the mystery 
of the Incarnation. We are united to God and God 



Blessed Eucharist 



to us, and in this consists the social influence of the 
Blessed Sacrament. The human family had been 
broken up by sin ; it regains its lost unity by the Blood 
of the Lamb of God, and the original intention which 
God had in creating man is fulfilled. Man has re- 
gained his lost position in the glorious choir of beings. 

The history of the Blessed Eucharist is one with 
the history of every social phase of the Christian 
world, for the Eucharist is the vital center, here below, 
whither everything in the Church converges. It is the 
inner bond which unites that society of which Christ 
is the Head, the society whereby He is to rule over 
nations. From this we see the reason why there is 
a continual sacrifice. The Cross was the altar of 
the world, and on that Cross was made an oblation 
of the whole of human nature, for the whole human 
race was united with this last act of Infinite Adora- 
tion and Reparation offered by its Head to the su- 
preme Majesty of God. The Church then was in its 
infancy, and the mystery of divine union which 
Christ came on earth to produce was not to have its 
immediate realization for each separate member, ex- 
cept by its successive application to each one as his 
time came. This was the object of the sublime in- 
stitution of the Blessed Eucharist. It was a new 
Testament which gave to the future Church the pos- 
session of the mystery whereby each generation 
linked on to its predecessors by the unity of the same 
sacrifice would find itself in union with the Word 
Incarnate, and in that union would find the tie which 
mutually binds its members together. 



324 The Messiah's Message 

The first injunction given by Jesus after the last 
supper was a love of union. " A new command- 
ment I give unto you that ye love one another, as I 
have loved you: and by this all men know that ye 
are my disciples." And this prayer of our Lord was 
well understood by the Church afterwards, when a few 
years later it was obliged to pass beyond the limits 
of Judea and carry her treasures to the Gentiles. 
It was a world of corruption then, all was discord 
between man and man, and the only remedy was the 
tyranny of a Caesar. It was into such a world the 
Christians had to preach the new Gospel, and in do- 
ing so they showed it, the marvel of a new people, 
which by the sole influence of its virtues, recruited 
its members from every class and every clime and was 
stronger and more united than any other nation upon 
the earth. The pagans wondered, but the faithful 
understood the reason, for it was well explained to 
them by the Apostle, " We being many, are one bread, 
one body, all partake of one bread." 

This sentiment of union was rooted in the soul of 
the early Church by reason of the Blessed Eucharist. 
Her mission was to bring about the union of the chil- 
dren of God that were dispersed about the world. 
When the violence of the persecutors obliged her to 
provide her children with some secret sign whereby 
they might recognize each other and not be recog- 
nized by her pagan enemies, she gave them the 
mysterious ICTHUS which means fish, the fish be- 
ing the sacred symbol of the Blessed Eucharist. 
The letters which form the Greek word ICTHUS are 



Blessed Eucharist , 325 

the initials of a formula in the same language which 
gives this sentence, JESUS SON OF GOD SAV- 
IOUR. We find this sacred symbol on almost every- 
thing that the Christians of the first three centuries 
possessed; on rings, on lamps, on implements the fish 
in some way or other was inscribed. It was the 
watchword, the tessera of the early Christians in those 
days of persecution. Hence we see how even the 
symbol was used by the Christians as a bond of that 
union which was such a puzzle to the pagan world. 

From what I have now said we can see the reason 
why the Church exacts each member of her flock to 
receive Holy Communion at least once a year, in 
order that we may not be separated from the com- 
munion of hearts, from that league of affection and 
love that is the life and soul of Christ's faithful. 
What a grand and wonderful creation the Blessed 
Sacrament is. It is the vital center of the Christian 
world. It is the amplification of His Incarnation. 
Here He communicates Himself to every human heart 
and becomes in very truth the vine that bears God's 
plants, sending the sap of His divine life into all its 
shoots and branches, causing them to blossom and 
bear the fruit of eternal life. 



BLESSED EUCHARIST 



Part III 

" Let not your hearts be troubled ; I will not leave you desolate. 
I will come to you." — John 14. 

There is a promise that if He would withdraw 
Himself from them as the Incarnate Word, He would 
still be with them income other way, and in a way 
more expressive and loving, as divine compassion is 
not retrograde. This promise made by Jesus Christ 
in such touching words to His Apostles the night 
before He died for our salvation, is clearly fulfilled 
in the institution of the Blessed Eucharist. He is 
with us there and we are no longer orphans, or 
lonely when we have Jesus Christ as our Guest. He 
is present in the Holy Eucharist not in sign or sym- 
bol, but really; not as the faith of the recipient 
wishes, but actually, not as an effective grace, but 
substantially. Behind those walls of accidents, be- 
hind these Eucharistic appearances, He is there with 
His soul, divinity, and humanity as He is in heaven 
to-day. We are no longer orphans when we have 
His sacramental presence. The Church being the 
Bride of Christ has a right to the presence of her 
Spouse; no transient substitute will satisfy her. She 
will feel discontent if He is not with her really and 
substantially. 

326 



Blessed Eucharist 



327 



We have no necessity to look for our God through 
His attributes; we have Him living with us in His 
home, the tabernacle, where we all can visit Him. 
And when we kneel before His sacramental throne 
we feel that we are in His august presence, for we 
feel some unseen power entrances us. The sanctuary 
has a solemnity about it, has an odor of sanctity 
perfuming the air around it, and a supernatural 
warmth which dispells the wintry chillness from our 
hearts, chases levity, and sweetens life. We have no 
necessity to look for Him in the crib of Bethlehem, 
for He is born every day upon the altar, produced by 
the hands of a virgin, and wrapped up in the swad- 
dling clothes of the accidents. We have no neces- 
sity to look for Him with His apostles in Judea or 
Galilee, as He now walks noiselessly with His priests 
when they carry Him about to be the Viaticum of 
the soul about to leave for its last long journey. He 
makes no distinction, He draws no line between the 
imprisoned, the orphaned, the rich and the poor. 
The little children who shear the blossoms from the 
trees, and the flowers from the gardens, to scatter 
them before Him as He proceeds in those inspiring 
processions of the Blessed Sacrament remind us of 
the children who spread palm branches beneath His 
feet on the occasion of His triumphal entry to Je- 
rusalem. It is with eyes of thought often bleared 
with tears that we see too often the history of the 
upper room renewed by so many secret Judases in 
disguise who with traitorous souls eat at the eucharis- 
tic banquet. Golgotha is with us at every sacrifice 



328 



The Messiah's Message 



of the mass; it is a renewal of the sacrifice of the 
Cross, not a memorial but a real sacrificial action. 
Each time we look at the tabernacle with its priceless 
treasure, its richest pearl, when we see the Victim of 
love lying there motionless, the radiance of the 
divinity lighting up the home of love, we are reminded 
that it is an emblem of His quiet repose in the 
sepulcher at Jerusalem, and as Christians from all 
parts of the Christian world visit the scenes of our 
Lord's sufferings and death to lay a flower of their 
loving offering at the sepulcher of their Saviour, in 
like manner the faithful of to-day visit Him in His 
quiet and peaceful tabernacle to pour out their unc- 
tuous prayers in whispering accents and offer to Him 
the prettiest flower plucked from their garden per- 
fumed with love. 

What a cheerful companion to have accompanying 
us in our earthly pilgrimage. He comforts us in our 
hours of depression by making them less drearisome. 
He rejoices with us in our hours of brightness by 
making them still brighter. The manger of Bethle- 
hem is confined to Bethlehem, and He was there but 
for a few days listening to the exultant songs of 
angels, to receive the homage of poor shepherds as 
well as the adoration of kings. He was in Galilee 
and Judea for some years healing the wounds of the 
afflicted. He hung upon the cross for three hours 
until He completed the sacrifice, but in the Blessed 
Sacrament He restores to us a perpetual manger, a 
continual Calvary in our countless altars and taber- 
nacles, verifying the words of the prophet (Mai. 



Blessed Eucharist 329 

1. 11). No hour passes the clock of our time that 
is not exultant with acts of our homage, belief, and 
love; souls are busy in every clime weaving a wreath 
of many-colored flowers of worship and reparation in 
atonements for insults offered to Him under the 
sacramental veil. Acts of faith ascend hourly in such 
numbers to be sufficient to calm the most troubled 
sea of blasphemy. The quickened pulse of love 
throbs so quick and so loud as to silence the wrang- 
ling world and force it to join in a hymn of thanks- 
giving. The presence of our Lord living with us, so 
near to us, makes the world home-like to us. When 
we enter a church we look around for the silent 
glimmer of the sanctuary lamp. It is to us what the 
polar star is to the mariner ; it guides us to the port 
we seek, and when we find Him, who can read the 
meaning of the breathless reverence when the rav- 
ished heart flutters before the tabernacle and tells itself 
in prayer. Who can read those sweet communings 
between that loving soul and its God, which sound 
more like heavenly echoes than earthly poetry, more 
like angelic music than the songs of poor mortals. 
The tabernacle makes the dull day of life gleam with 
a sunshine from above. The somber silence is only 
broken by faith's whisperings. The angels of heaven 
all around in silent adoration listen to the love-mak- 
ing between the lover and the beloved. What 
comfort, what spiritual riches we receive from Him 
in His quiet watch-tower, the tabernacle. As the bee 
rifles the flower of its honey so do fervent souls rifle 
the home of God of its gifts which He hangs around 

22 



33° 



The Messiah's Message 



it for His visitors. When wrapt up in the fiery folds 
of faith and deep devotion in the presence of the 
Blessed Sacrament doubts thaw, temptations are be- 
numbered, and the soul seems to be bathed in a sea 
of joy. While in His presence a freshness drives 
away the lassitude of our tired and way-worn souls, 
and chases self-love as a fog is chased and dispelled 
before the morning sun. 

How cold and shivering a church is without the 
Blessed Sacrament; all warmth appears to be iced, 
all fire seems quenched. It is more like an iceberg 
than a Temple. And what I say of the material 
Temple I say also of His Church. Whatever riches, 
whatever light, power, beauty, and grace she has, 
comes from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Take 
the Blessed Sacrament away from the Church and 
she will be soulless, as our body is when death steals 
its life away. Christ, therefore, is also with us in 
His Church, but in a manner quite different from 
that which He is with us in the Sacrament of the 
altar. He lives in His Church only morally, spiritu- 
ally. The Church is a social union, a corporate body, 
and every properly organized social body has a head, 
and the unity, strength, and stability of any corporate 
union depends upon the head. Christ is the head of 
the Church. In the great mystery of the Incarna- 
tion Christ assumed human nature. The whole of hu- 
man nature was united as its head through the 
humanity which was formed from the flesh and blood 
of the Virgin Mary. This was the physical Body ; but 
He had another Body also which was called His 



Blessed Eucharist 



331 



mystical Body. This Body we call His Church. And 
what the head is to the body so is Christ as head 
to His Church, and as all our dignity and excellence 
are derived from the head, and through it all our 
actions are originated, preserved, and sustained, so 
is it with the Church; its very life, light, and strength 
are derived from Him as its Head. And although 
this body of Christ is spiritual and mystical, still its 
attributes are just as visible as the attributes of His 
corporal body. As the material body of Christ with 
all its members are one, so is the mystical or spiritual 
body of Christ one with all its members. As the 
body of Christ is indestructible and imperishable, so 
also is His mystical body indestructible and imperish- 
able. No interior corruption can kill her, no ex- 
ternal power can crush her, no more than the 
material body of Christ could have been subject to 
internal destruction or triumphed over by any ex- 
traneous power on earth. And as holiness, sanctity, 
were essentially the attributes of the body of Christ 
by reason of its personal union with the divinity, 
these, too, are essential characteristics of His mystical 
body, the Church. Finally as we cannot separate the 
Holy Ghost from any other one of the Persons of the 
Blessed Trinity, in like manner is the Holy Spirit 
inseparable from the mystical body, the church. In 
this we find the difference between her and the rest of 
the human race, which is the body of Christ in a 
much wider sense. She participates in a particular 
manner in the supernatural life of Christ, while the 
whole human race participates in a general manner. 



332 



The Messiah's Message 



The body of Christ has never been without the Holy 
Ghost, neither does the Church ever suffer the 
absence of His divine Presence. " I am the vine, 
you the branches" (John 14. 5). And this is the 
reason why the Church cannot be crushed. If she 
had not the Holy Ghost sustaining her, she would 
crumble to fragments long ago like other institutions 
that are merely human. When the Church upbraids 
the world for its sins it shudders, gets angry, and 
says it will not be lectured. Just as it happened to 
Jesus Christ when He upbraided the Scribes and 
Pharisees, and told them that He spoke with the 
authority of a king, the king of truth. To-day His 
mystical body continuing to accomplish the redemp- 
tion of the world pronounces judgment upon the 
world for its crime, and the world seeks to put her to 
death as it did to its divine Founder. These are the 
causes of the battle between the Church and the world. 
But like our divine Saviour who escaped the fury 
of His enemies and in the end triumphed, she breaks 
the fetters which her enemies attempt to bind her 
with. She breaks through prison doors to give the 
world her message of truth, for it cannot be fettered 
or imprisoned. Like her Saviour she is crucified and 
yet liveth. When we look at the life of this mys- 
tical body of Christ, His Church, on its way through 
time, and see her bright form surrounded by her dark 
enemies who assail her with their coarse blasphemies 
of wicked philosophy, corrupt civilization, and de- 
based diplomacy, we are forced to see in it a reflex 
of our Lord on His way to Calvary when He was 



Blessed Eucharist 



333 



surrounded by a coarse rabble and frenzied mob who 
shouted their curses and blasphemies from every 
point of vantage. Each day of her life brings new 
enemies; at one time it is some new science which 
boasts in attempting to show that the gospel' is no 
longer a truth but a legend; at another time it is 
some new theory about morality which attempts to 
show that it is nothing more than a smack of the 
lips. In one country it may be a heresy babbling 
piety and philanthropy like the Pharisees in order that 
it may get a hit at Jesus through His Church ; in an- 
other it may be a nation seeking a friendly kiss with 
the Church but the kiss is the kiss of Judas, as Father 
Faber beautifully expresses it. " She lives with such 
an alliance, as the timid deer lives in the forest whose 
every echo is ringing with the hunter's horn. She 
is less at ease in a concordat than in a catacomb." 
There is no peace for her, at every step there is an 
ambuscade and there lies the lurking assassin. But 
the rapier of the assassin can never reach her heart. 
Why? Her body is the mystical body of Christ, and 
her enemies are only stabbing the air when they at- 
tempt to wound or kill her. The weapon recoils and 
pierces through the would-be assassin. This we see 
verified in every persecutor of Christ whether it be a 
person or a theory ; we see it particularly true in every 
heresy that rebelled against her teaching. Year after 
year heresy shed its Christian elements ; the kernel has 
been corrupted and nought remains but a mere infidel 
shell. 

All God's works are disclosures of Himself. 



334 The Messiah's Message 



When we look at this stupendous universe, the sidereal 
world and the earth, we are reminded of the power 
of God; and when we consider that all-ruling provi- 
dence governing these elements we are reminded of 
the goodness of God; when we revisit the humble 
manger of Bethlehem we are confronted with the 
mercy of God; when the wings of faith carry us to 
heaven we see the perfection of the works of God; 
when we look down into the abysses of hell it speaks 
to us of the justice of God, as purgatory is eloquent 
of His compassion: all these works are so many 
mirrors which reflect His invisible perfections and 
hidden beauty. But when we come to look for an 
example of the mirror of God's love, we are sub- 
merged in a very sea of mirrors so deep and profound 
that it is to us fathomless. If the tremulous leaves 
of the olive trees and dust of Mount Olivet could 
speak, if the bloody scourge and blunted nails could 
give utterance to their thoughts, if the sharp lance, 
the sharp crown of thorns, the crimson cross could 
preach to us of the divine attribute of God's love for 
us, they would be far in a way less expressive in their 
language of the exuberance and prodigality of His 
love for us by instituting the Blessed Sacrament. 
We must not be surprised then when poets sing songs 
of His praise there; when art in all its forms and 
magnificence is exhausted to seek designs for the 
tabernacle of this Mystical Rose; when the treasures 
of the earth are searched for precious stones and 
gems, and the sunless chasms of the deep are fished 
for pearls to beautify His cup. The tabernacle is a 



Blessed Eucharist 



335 



great light, and the brighter that light shines on us 
by the growing intensity of our faith, the deeper the 
darkness of the world becomes. At the tabernacle 
we can drink to inebriation from the living fountain 
of love, while our souls are hushed with awe in His 
presence. 



HAIL MARY 



" Hear ye, therefore, house of David, the Lord himself will 
give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a 
son and his name shall be called Emmanuel." — Isaias 7. 14. 

The only begotten Son of the Most High came on 
earth garbed in the livery of misery, meekness and 
humility, which show Him to be man. Through this 
misery, meekness and humility are interwoven lumi- 
nous threads of Majesty, glory and greatness that re- 
veal His Divinity. Although the Scriptural narra- 
tive of His coming by the Evangelist, St. Luke, is 
the simplicity of language, nevertheless, it has all the 
signs of divine inspiration. Every phrase is impor- 
tant, every circumstance is an argument, every word a 
truth. There is no tinsel, no gilding, no rhetorical 
ornamentation about it, nevertheless with a wonder- 
ful artifice and harmony it demonstrates the fulfill- 
ment of the prophecy. " And in the sixth month, 
the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of 
Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a 
man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; 
and the virgin's name was Mary." The Evangelist 
did not take into account the reigning time of Caesar, 
but fixed the time of the coming from heaven of this 
bright ambassador, on the sixth month from the con- 
ception of St. John the Baptist. It is not the mighty 

336 



Hail Mary 



337 



ones of the earth that reckon with God, but he who 
has the riches of virtue. Neither was it without 
some significance that the Evangelist mentions the 
place where the angel Gabriel came. Nazareth means 
sanctified, separated, flowery. On this day the true 
Nazarene, the Holy of Holies, separated from all 
sinners, in this soil of Nazareth springs up as a flower 
from the root of Jesse. 

Mary was the nearest creature to angelic that was 
possible, for an angel and a virgin form the truest 
image, the most brilliant mirror, the ineffable reflex 
of the purity and perfection of God. The Virgin 
Mother is the noblest creature created by God. Her 
tender grace, her dignity, her purity, embalm our 
faith with a fragrance that no saint on the calendar 
approaches or can approach. She is a flower trans- 
planted from the garden of heaven to that of earth 
that she may transform the putrescence of a putrid 
world into the sweetness of virtue. The perfume 
from the lily of Mary's purity rising like clouds of 
incense above earthly spheres, penetrated through the 
myriads of angelic hosts, and reached the throne of 
God and called the Word upon the earth ; it drew the 
sanctuary of a heart divinely pure to rest within her- 
self. She is a virgin and about to become a mother, 
but her maternity instead of abstracting anything 
from her virginity adds more fragrance to it. 

The angel sent by God ignored rich Jerusalem, 
proud Rome, the kingdom of Herod, the palace of 
Augustus. Queen and empress all were passed by. 
The little village of Nazareth; the humble house of 



33$ The Messiah's Message 



Joseph, a poor artisan, was the terminus of his visit; 
an unrecognized little girl is what the angel sought 
to become the mother of the Messiah. In the whole 
universe he did not find a place more fitting, a per- 
son more becoming, more worthy of his errand. And 
why? What are the claims of this little maid of 
Nazareth that entitle her above all other little maids 
to receive such a distinguished host as an archangel 
from heaven? Her virginity. Virginity is the sym- 
bol of purity, of grace, of love. This maid was the 
perfection of virginity. Virgin in soul and body, in 
mind and heart. The model virgin for all other vir- 
gins. The virgin by excellence. The virgin known 
in the Scripture, familiar among the traditions of the 
people, and the expectation of nations. 

The name of this maid is Mary, and Mary means 
Lady. Mary is called " Our Lady " in the same 
sense that we call her Son Jesus Christ, " Our Lord." 
The limits of her empire are those of her Son. Those 
of her being of grace, while His are by nature. Her 
empire is that of mercy, her judgment is clemency, 
her scepter is sweetness, her jeweled crown is love. 

What grand characters form the dramatis personce 
of this first act in the great drama of man's redemp- 
tion. An archangel from the angelic hosts, a virgin 
the purest, the humblest, the holiest. And this bright- 
souled angel poised in the ambient air, like a white 
eagle looking on its prey, opens the first brilliant 
scene of the greatest of tragedies, by conveying to 
Mary, the virgin, a message from God. " Hail, full 
of grace." There is no room for aught else in the 



Hail Mary 



339 



soul of the virgin but beauteous grace. A creature 
in whom all graces, all the privileges, all the virtues 
that reside in Jesus Christ, and in the angels and saints- 
as in divided rivulets, are found in her all reunited 
as in a river when near its spring. There is no room 
here for sin, I should say, no stain, no blotch, no 
scar that would record the existence of a wound in- 
flicted by sin. Prepared by His wisdom, molded by 
His own hand, adopted to be His closest associate 
during His life on earth. No earthly queen ever 
wore a crown of jewels so precious, so lustrous, no 
hero of the world had his brow wreathed with a 
garland commemorative of valorous deeds so glorious 
as what those simple words of the virgin's chaplet 
signify, " Full of grace." 

She could not be otherwise but full of grace, for, 
" the Lord is with thee," said the visiting angel. 
What an honor conferred on her. What a guest to 
entertain. What a companion to be associated with, 
the Eternal God. Although God, through His im- 
mensity and efficacy is with all creatures; and is often 
with sinners when actual grace illumines their minds 
and moves their hearts; and is with the just through 
sanctifying grace; and in a special way is with the 
elect; in Mary, however, God is with her not alone in 
all these ways, but also in a most particular and in- 
effable way, in a more noble and intimate way. 

The angel does not stop here in declaring the great- 
ness and glory of Mary, but tells her that " she is 
blessed among women." A Queen among women, 
the glory of women, a model woman. How else 



The Messiah's Message 



could she be but blessed, when she is the nearest thing 
to an angel; how else could she be but blessed when 
she was conceived without sin, the hereditary satanic 
power in her case was suspended; how else could she 
be but blessed when she is full of grace; how else 
could she be but blessed when the Lord is not only 
with her, but the fruit of her womb is the Holy of 
Holies; how else could she be but blessed when she 
sipped at the fountain of all graces, and partook of 
the viands, the sweetmeats catered by the Provider 
of all things? 

Mary was startled at the angel's salutation; she 
was disturbed for she could not understand how a 
lowly humble maid like her could be the recipient of 
such heavenly favors. But the explanation was forth- 
coming from the angel who noticed her perturbation. 
" Fear not, Mary," he said, " for thou hast found 
grace with God." You have not sought else but to 
please God, and He in return shows His preference 
for thee to all the saints who have preceded thee; by 
consecrating thyself to God thou hast purchased the 
richest of all treasures, the most precious of pearls, 
the divine maternity. " Behold, thou shalt conceive 
in thy womb and bring forth a son; and thou shalt 
call Him Jesus." Yes, thou shalt conceive a son. 
The son of Mary, therefore, is true man, is truly the 
son of man, because a son that is conceived is a true 
son, and a son that is truly conceived by woman is 
true man. This declaration, therefore, on the part 
of the angel confutes the Manichean heresy which 
taught that Jesus Christ had not true and real flesh. 



Hail Mary 



341 



The angel also added, not alone shalt thou conceive, 
but expressedly defines the place where the conception 
takes place, namely in her womb. From her own 
flesh, from her own blood, from her own substance, 
thereby confuting the heresy of Valentine which 
taught that the humanity of Christ descended from 
heaven, and that Mary was only the channel through 
whom it came. The angel goes still further. Not 
alone, O Virgin, will you conceive, and from thy 
own substance, but you will give Him birth, mani- 
festly indicating that the word virgin must be inter- 
preted with an undivided meaning, and not in a 
divided sense, which means, as a virgin you conceived, 
as a virgin you brought a son, and will remain a vir- 
gin. Behold, therefore, is the perpetual virginity of 
Mary established, a virgin before the birth, a virgin 
in the birth, a virgin after birth, and thus refuting 
the teaching of Calvin. The angel proceeding said, 
"And He that shall be born of thee will be called 
the son of the Most High," which puts to flight the 
heresy of Nestorius who denied the divine maternity. 
Therefore, although Mary has not generated the 
divine person, but only the flesh of Jesus Christ, 
nevertheless as in Jesus Christ man and God are only 
one Person, one suppositum, substantial, and indis- 
soluble, one and the same Jesus Christ; thus Mary 
the true mother of man is also the mother of God, 
who to man is intimately united. In the same way 
as we say of every father, although he may not have 
generated the soul but only the body of his own son, 
nevertheless he is the father not alone of the body, 



342 



The Messiah's Message 



but also of the soul in conjunction with the body which 
forms with the soul one compositiun, one man. 

Mary became more disturbed as the salutation of 
the angel became more unintelligible to her. It was 
her turn now to speak. " How shall this be, because 
I know not man?" Joseph is my legitimate spouse, 
he is the guardian of my virginity and not its ravisher. 
I have consecrated my body and soul to my heavenly 
spouse; I have locked up that vow within the im- 
penetrable walls of my soul, sealed the door with the 
seal of a resolute will, and I will not break that seal. 
My God holds the key. These are the accents that 
welled forth from a soul enamored with chastity, 
a soul surcharged with virginity. O virginity, what 
more noble victim was ever offered on thy altar. 
From the one part the glory of becoming the mother 
of God is presented to the mind of Mary, and from 
the other part the sacrifice of a virtue dear to her 
heart; yet without the slightest hesitation she prefers 
the grace that sanctifies her, to the grace that would 
exalt her. She prefers perfection to sublimity, she 
refuses the dignity of being His mother to the sacri- 
fice of not being His spouse. She does not vacillate 
one moment in the face of the highest dignity that 
could be conferred on woman. 

Little indeed did Mary know that all these graces 
which ornamented her soul were a preparation for 
the august mystery of the Incarnation. Little did she 
know that her lilies interwoven with those of St. 
Joseph formed a wreath of virginity from which 
would grow the sweet flower of Nazareth. If there 



Hail Mary 



343 



be anything that could nobilify the birth of the Babe 
of Bethlehem it would be the virginity of Mary, and 
if there be anything that could nobilify Mary it would 
be her divine maternity. What therefore is the pro- 
ceeding of the coming Saviour? He looks out for a 
poor, humble, chaste mother that Sion was ashamed 
to number among her daughters. He selects a place 
so unknown that Judea blushed to name it among its 
cities. He wished that all His surroundings should 
be poor, in order that the conversion of the world 
hereafter may become more manifest as the work of 
the power of God and not that of man. What mat- 
ter does it make then if the home of Joseph and Mary 
be humble when sanctity reigns there? What matter 
is it if Mary be poor, neglected, unclothed with any 
of the world's tinselled trimmings, when she is robed 
with the white stole of purity? By means of the 
sanctity reigning in Joseph's house, and the spotless 
virginity in Mary's soul, the Word of God prepared 
a dwelling place, de congruo, worthy of Himself. 
This little dwelling is as rich and as beautiful as 
heaven. In descending to this home, imprisoning 
Himself in this womb, His Majesty fears no treason, 
His glory dreads no dimness; and while the infirmity 
of the flesh to which He unites Himself profoundly 
humiliates Him, it at the same time announces Him 
as Saviour, and the sanctity which surrounds Him 
manifests Him as God. 

How can this be? "I know not man." The angel 
trembled in the tremulous air, as Mary pronounced 
these words. Was His mission to be futile ? Was he 



344 



The Messiah's Message 



to return to his Royal King and say, " I have failed? " 
Was the envoy from heaven, upon whom so much de- 
pended, to be foiled by a little girl scarcely known in 
Nazareth? Were all the prophecies of old which pre- 
dicted so vividly the birth of the Messiah to be falsi- 
fied? Was the hour of man's redemption to be de- 
ferred sine die? Were the longings, the watchings, 
the buoyant expectancies of Limbo's prisoners to be 
deceived ? Were the rejoicings of heaven to be changed 
into a mourning dirge? Was the tide of joy heard on 
every human shore to retire into the depths of time 
with no hope of a defined return? Were all these to 
be baffled by the steadfast will of the virgin maid of 
Nazareth ? No, the words of Mary, " How shall this 
be, for I know not man," afforded the angel an op- 
portunity of revealing to her the way in which the 
ineffable mystery would take place without breaking 
the seal of her virginity. " By the action of the Holy 
Ghost and the power of the Most High he that shall 
be born of thee shall be the Son of God." As the 
omnipotence of God made thy cousin Elizabeth fruit- 
ful although she was by nature sterile, in like manner 
will He make thee fecund who art sterile by virtue. 
Having explained Mary's difficulty the angel was 
silent, and Mary wrapt up in ecstasy considering the 
divine greatness, the infinite condescension, her own 
nothingness, the far-reaching effects of her consent, 
at last burst forth in words that will be remembered 
when the grave of time will close over all that is 
mortal, words that will remain engraven on the tablet 
of eternity. " Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be 



Hail Mary 



345 



it done unto me according to thy word." What sub- 
lime words, another fiat pronounced, but a greater fiat 
than that pronounced by the Creator on the thresh- 
old of creation when He drew the world out of noth- 
ing, for Mary's fiat brought the Infinite God into 
nothing. In these words of Mary the angel received 
her consent to become the mother of man's Saviour. 
She selected to be the great co-operatrix in the re- 
demption of lost man. With this consoling message 
of conquest the angel returned to the kingdom of 
the God-head. The joy-bells of heaven rang out 
their tuneful peals, and Limbo's breathless expect- 
ancy was changed into loud paeans of rejoicing. The 
gates of heaven opened and the plenitude of the Holy 
Trinity poured out in full tide and Mary conceived. 
The Immaculate Maiden was overshadowed by the 
Holy Ghost, and the Sacred Body of Christ was in- 
stantly formed from her pure blood, and the virgin was 
more incomparably virgin than before. " The stars, un- 
conscious of what took place in the home of Nazareth, 
sped through space as usual, and the lily was closed in 
its vase, and the watch-dogs of the herdsmen of Naza- 
reth broke ever and anon the stillness of the night, 
while the awful mystery was being accomplished. 
Morning rose on earth cold, clear, vernal; and the 
long-expected Redeemer of mankind came, and no 
one but the mother knew." The divine Word with- 
out leaving the divine Mind, which generated it, be- 
comes flesh; just as the internal word, the thought of 
man, becomes apparent in words without leaving the 

mind that conceives it. Underneath the human wrap- 

23 



346 The Messiah's Message 



page of flesh lay hidden the Divinity in all its omnip- 
otence. While the Son of God was the Virgin's 
tenant He was still the divine Lord and Master. 
Infinity was imprisoned within finite human walls. 
He put on the prison garments of humanity by which 
we recognize Him to be the Son of Mary, but beneath 
those garments the person of the Royal King is dis- 
guised by which we recognize Him to be the Son of 
God. " And the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
amongst us." 

How sublime in its humility, how great in its sim- 
plicity is the history of this wonderful mystery. 
What harmonies it reveals ; what prophecies it fulfills ; 
what virtues it commends. If man were able to in- 
vent it he would also be able to work it, but as it took 
an infinite power to accomplish it, it behooved infinite 
wisdom to idealize it. Reason does not invent that 
which is above reason; that which reason does not 
understand, reason does not intend. Man repeats the 
thoughts, the designs, the operations of man. God 
alone reveals the designs, the thoughts, the works of 
His wisdom and love. Reason could not, therefore, 
invent the consoling dogma of God becoming man; 
but it received it, believed in it after it was made 
manifest by the same God who had accomplished it, 
and left it in His Church where He maintains it and 
perpetuates it through proofs, through faith, hope, 
and love. 

O sublime mystery of God-made man. We have 
absolute need of thee. If these words be separated, 
we fall back into the depths of despair. Our infinite 



Hail Mary 



347 



misery has need of God, but our timidity, our noth- 
ingness do not dare to allow us to approach even an 
angel. A man that is not God, cannot save us, can- 
not succor us, cannot satisfy us, and a God that is not 
man does not sustain us, does not encourage us, does 
not assure us. Therefore, we have neither salvation, 
nor confidence, nor hope, unless in a man-God. 
Whoever attempts to weaken our faith in this great 
truth is as cruel to us as he is impious before God. 
Receive from us, O precious mystery, the entire 
homage of our mind and heart. We believe in thee, 
we love thee. Rather let us say, We believe while 
loving Thee, and love while believing in Thee. Thus 
love is our faith, and faith is our love. With all that 
we have, with all that we are, we desire to conse- 
crate, to immolate ourselves to Thee; and you, O 
Mary, Virgin Mother, you who cradled the sufferings 
of the Infant Jesus through His flight to Egypt and 
in the Nazareth home; you who stood at the foot of 
the Cross and received thy commission to perpetuate 
thy Son's great work in rejuvenating the withered 
souls of wicked men, and building up anew the spirit- 
ual framework of wrecked souls. Oh, cradle our 
souls, guard them from wrong-doings, rejuvenate 
them with the refreshing graces from the fountain 
of redemption. 



THE RICH AND THE POOR 



There is the socialism of Christ, and there is the 
socialism of the devil. The socialism of Christ is 
what His Church teaches, and the socialism of the 
devil is what Karl Marx, Herzen, and Proudhon teach. 
The socialism of Christ's Church is to love one an- 
other, and do unto others what you would have others 
do unto you. The socialism of the devil, Karl Marx 
and Co., is to wage war against all prevailing ideas 
about religion, state, country, and patriotism. The 
idea of God is, they say, the keystone of a perverted 
civilization, and it is necessary to sweep it away from 
the face of the earth. Church, Providence, Immortal- 
ity of the soul, State, family, good, evil are to be done 
away with. The earthly religion to be the religion of 
man. Society, therefore, according to these is to be 
without any rule. 

The sectaries of socialism teach the withholding 
of obedience to the heads of States, in whom the 
rights of authority are bestowed by God Himself. 
For they assert that all men are equal, and hence they 
contend that neither honor nor respect is due to pub- 
lic authority, nor any obedience to the laws, except 
to those sanctioned according to their own pleasure. 

They attack the right of property, sanctioned by 
the law of nature, and strain every effort to seize and 

348 



The Rich and the Poor 



349 



hold in common all that is individually acquired by 
title of lawful inheritance, through intellectual, or 
manual labor, or economy of living. 

They hold in scorn the natural union between man 
and woman which is held sacred even among barbar- 
ous nations, and slacken its bond whereby family life 
is chiefly maintained. 

Socialism arrogates to itself complete sovereignty 
and an absolute independence in solving all questions 
relative to the political and social orders. It denies 
revelation because revelation- contradicts the total effi- 
ciency of reason; it denies grace because grace con- 
tradicts its absolute independence; it denies Provi- 
dence because Providence is the contradiction of its 
independent sovereignty. All these negations linked 
together deny the union between God and man, and 
what it does with God in religion, it does with God in 
the political order, between the governed and the gov- 
erning, and while it does this, it looks for an equi- 
librium which it never can find, because it destroys 
the nature between God and man. 

The fundamental error of socialism as a theory 
taught in socialistic schools is that it denies sin. The 
deductions drawn from this negation are mischievous. 
First, it destroys human liberty which cannot be con- 
ceived unless we admit sin. Secondly, if liberty be 
denied then man has no responsibility. Thirdly, if 
there be no responsibility there is no penalty. 
Fourthly, if there be no penalty there is no such thing 
as divine and human government. Finally, if there 
be no individual responsibility there can be no re- 



350 The Messiah's Message 

sponsibility in the species, and therefore according to 
socialists there is no human responsibility, there is no 
social, political, or domestic responsibility. These 
are the consequences of such pernicious doctrine, and 
when publicly declared there is the danger of the 
democracy flowing on until it gets lost in socialism 
as a river gets lost in the sea. And as Pope Leo 
says, " It leaves nothing scathless and uninjured of 
that which human and divine laws alike have wisely 
ordained to ensure the preservation and honor of life. 
These monstrous views they proclaim in public meet- 
ings, uphold in booklets, and spread broadcast every- 
where through the daily press." 

What are the reasons that have actuated socialists 
to adopt this creed and preach it so vehemently ? The 
greater part of socialists maintain that there is no 
other evil but what is in society, in political, religious, 
and social institutions, and therefore all these institu- 
tions should be leveled to the ground. 

They maintain furthermore that supreme good 
consists in the disarrangement of the social region, 
and that intrinsic good is in man, and therefore it 
is the duty of man to bring about this disarrange- 
ment. 

What is the object of socialism destroying all these 
social institutions? The reason is, because they op- 
press the passions. The passions are, they say, of 
divine institution; virtues are of human institution; 
virtues, they say are pernicious, and passions are 
salutary. For this reason the supreme end of social- 
ism is to create a new atmosphere in which the pas- 



The Rich and the Poor 351 

sions may move more freely, and when this is accom- 
plished, they promise us the golden age of the world. 
Socialism is, therefore, retrograde, it puts back the 
hands of the clock to the days of paganism. 

When socialists say that evil is in society and not 
in man, and that it falls to man to redeem society, 
they build their theory on a false basis, because evil 
is in man as well as in society. Society is the reunion 
of a multitude of men, who live under the rule and 
the protection of the same law and the same institu- 
tions, and does not exist independently of the individ- 
uals who constitute it ; there can be nothing in society 
which is not previously in the individuals, whence it 
follows, that the evil and the good which are in it, 
come from man. Considered from this point of view, 
the evil that is in society cannot be extirpated from it 
without touching the individuals in whom it was orig- 
inally and essentially. 

The evil which is in society is there essentially or 
accidentally. If essentially, to extirpate it, society 
itself must be destroyed, the upsetting of institutions 
is not sufficient. If it is there accidentally, from 
whence has it come, what was the cause of its coming, 
and how is man to redeem society? From whom 
does he get the power to redeem it? The Church of 
Christ alone can supply the solution of this problem 
when it says, man is human and executes things hu- 
man, God is divine and executes things divine. The 
redemption of man does not come within the province 
of human things, therefore man cannot be his own 
redeemer. Socialism is therefore wrong when it 



352 



The Messiah's Message 



gives an undertaking to man to accomplish which be- 
longs to God. 

What is it that has forced these doctrines upon the 
minds of men? I believe it to be the erroneous con- 
ception of the distribution of property. And this 
appeals to the masses with marvelous success. Survey 
the world of to-day and we are confronted on the 
one side with a senseless and unjust economy, gold 
and glitter, and on the other side with poverty, hunger 
and rags. One struggling to live against indigestion, 
and the other eking out an existence for want of food 
to digest. One side dizzy from the effect of too 
much eating and drinking, the other stupid, pinched, 
and bent for something to eat. All over the world 
we see a feverish unrest to pile up wealth on one side 
and on the other hand poverty was never so stark 
and grinding. In our large cities these extremes 
meet. Streets, squares, boulevards, are studded with 
gorgeous homes to sweeten life, then there is the 
Ghetto, a pile of buildings unfit for cattle much less 
human beings to dwell in. Families are there huddled 
together in stifling rooms, nurseries of sin and vermin, 
where children squat about with shriveled brows and 
pinched faces showing life hastening on to decrepi- 
tude; God's little children rotten before they are ripe. 
And the terrible element is that material progress 
aggravates both extremes, for the more sweat that 
falls from the brow of labor the more dollars go into 
the coffers of the rich. While the pile of the rich is 
being doubled the wages of the laborer are cut down 
and the number of the poor is increased. Society 



The Rich and the Poor 



353 



is rushing to a deep chasm at express speed. Listen 
to the chorus of cries, sobs, and maledictions of 
slaves hewing marble for the palaces of their tyrants, 
of serfs raking the soil to extract from it a piece of 
bread, of working men blasting granite rocks in the 
mountains to make roads to centers of industry, of 
miners passing half their lives in the bowels of the 
earth, of men rushed to battle to slay their fellow 
man and torture and kill their colleagues to make mil- 
lionaires billionaires ; there bursts forth from all these 
human breasts a cry of lamentation. No doubt the 
triumphal car of progress moves on, but its wheels 
are blood-stained. Read the hearts of the masses 
expressed on their banners as they march Sunday 
after Sunday in London to express their feelings in 
Trafalgar Square. The vibrant note of the warning 
bell is there. On one banner carried by the strong 
hands of labor we read: "Democracy is the power 
of to-day." On another we see these words: 
" Democracy seeks economic salvation." On a third 
we read : " The relation between capital and labor 
is wholly unsatisfactory." Then comes a large white 
banner carried by women on which stand out in let- 
ters of fiery red : " We want bread for our children." 
What is the cause of all this social unrest? The lust 
for money for the few, to uphold the pride and the 
luxury of the few, and to grab this, the masses must 
sweat and eke out an existence in ill health and misery. 
This state of things has to be righted, otherwise the 
hoarse grumble of discontent heard now, like the low 
murmur of the brook, will burst forth some day into 



354 



The Messiah's Message 



the roar of a rushing torrent and sweep all before it, 
as has occurred in those lurid days of the French 
revolution. 

What is to be done to remedy this crying evil? 
Are we to go about preaching platitudes and patience ? 
So much would be so much sound and fury, and sound 
and fury won't procure bread for the hungry, nor 
garments for the shivering. We must be more prac- 
tical. Organize helping committees, establish institu- 
tions; pulpit and platform must ring with words of 
fire to denounce the " proud man's contumely, the 
oppressors wrong." The language of the Catholic 
Church is not to throw fringes of purple and gold 
over the sins of unjust opulency, but to lay bare its 
crime. Christ never meant His Church to be the but- 
tress of mammon. Are men to go to church to hear 
a gospel of dollars vehemently harangued every Sun- 
day? If this is to be the gospel, the bells in the church 
tower would soon cease ringing out their musical 
notes, and the benches would soon become empty of 
worshipers. 

When the Catholic Church says we are all brothers 
equal and free, it explains how we are so. Equality 
amongst men consists in this, that one and all pos- 
sessing the same nature, are called to the sublime 
dignity of being sons of God, and, moreover, that 
one and the same end being set before all, each and 
every one has to be judged according to the same 
laws, and to have punishment and rewards meted out 
according to individual deserts. There is, however, 
an inequality of right and authority which emanates 



The Rich and the Poor 



355 



from the Author of Nature Himself. As regards 
rulers and subjects, all, without exception, are mutu- 
ally bound by duties and rights, in such a manner 
that in the one hand moderation is enjoined in the 
appetite for power, and on the other obedience is 
shown to be easy, stable, and honorable. The Church 
urges on all the Apostolic precept. There is no power 
but that which comes from God, and those that are 
ordained of God. Therefore, he that resisteth the 
powers, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that 
resist purchase to themselves damnation. But it has 
a word for the powerful and opulent, too; it warns 
them not to abuse the power given to them by God 
to the detriment of the subject. Should they abuse 
that power God will call them to a strict and speedy 
account. She addresses them in the words of divine 
Wisdom. " Give ear you who rule the people and 
that please yourselves in the multitude of nations, 
power is given to you by the Lord and strength by 
the Most High, who will examine your works and 
search your thoughts, for a most severe judgment 
shall be for them that rule. For God will not accept 
any man's person, nor will He stand in awe of any 
one's greatness; for He hath the little and the great, 
and He hath equally care of all. But a greater pun- 
ishment is ready for the more mighty." 

The history of the Catholic Church reveals to us 
that the cares of her sacred ministry were not ex- 
clusively confined to the cultivation of the heart and 
mind, but by establishing charitable institutions, hos- 
pitals, orphanages, asylums, industrial schools, she 



356 The Messiah's Message 



cast her aegis of protecting care around the weak 
and lowly. Her proudest boast was to bring down 
the insolence of the proud, and defrauding the laborer 
of his wages is one of the crimes her theology teaches 
that cry to heaven for vengeance. Among the great 
truths of the Christian doctrine, that of the obligations 
of the rich to the poor, the Catholic Church has per- 
sistently proclaimed from the house-tops. I do not 
mean to claim for her a complete monopoly in this 
sacred duty, but it must be said of her that environ- 
ment was not powerful enough to cramp the character 
of her chiefs like Leo and Pius, and other dignitaries 
of her rank and file who, brushing aside the pomps 
of office and cramping narrowness, have declared and 
put into practice the teaching of Christ in defense of 
the poor rather than the shriveled husk that is often 
taken for true religion. And when the Church awak- 
ens to her duty in this respect, then there will be less 
rags, better food, more virtue, brighter homes, and 
no longer will youth be hastened to decrepitude and 
premature graves. 

Religion is based on an all-pervading, all-embracing 
spirit of love. It should be woven through the web 
and woof of society in its daily life. It is the life- 
giving blood of the masses and the privileged few; 
it must go down to the roots and not remain perched 
on the uppermost branch. Although it breathes love 
for all and speaks the language of love to all, yet its 
language alters according to the character of the child 
of its soul. To the poor its accents are full of tender- 
ness, but for the rich they are full of warning. Re- 



The Rich and the Poor 



357 



ligion is not to be appropriated by any one day of 
the week, it is for all the days of the week, and lays 
down the all-enduring foundation upon which the 
economic, social, and political fabric should be built. 
Religion is for the military man bivouacked in his 
camp as well as for the religious in his cell ; it is for 
the commercial man in his department store as well as 
for the clerk at his desk; it is for the scientist in his 
laboratory as well as for the student in his primary 
studies; it is for the mechanic in his workshop, the 
girl in the factory, the priest in the sanctuary. But 
it is emphatically for the rich. It rails at the unjust 
and immoral means by which wealth is amassed, and 
counsels the wealthy to be animated by a noble and 
unselfish spirit of fraternal love for the poor and not 
to pass them by like the Levite in the gospel, but to 
stoop down and anoint their galling wounds. This 
is the religion of Jesus Christ and that which He 
commissioned all of us to practice and preach. 

We are all brothers and under no tunic should 
feelings be more kindly and loving than those under 
the cassock of Christ's Church. " Every minister/' 
says Leo XIII, " of religion must throw into the 
conflict all the energy of his mind, and all the strength 
of his endurance. They must never cease to urge 
upon all men of every class, upon the high as well 
as upon the lowly, the gospel doctrine of Christian 
life. By every means in their power they must, under 
the guidance of charity and justice, strive to secure 
the rights, to promote the good, and to work for not 
merely the spiritual but also for the temporal eleva- 



358 



The Messiah's Message 



tion of the people." Class bias and smug advice 
will not warm shivering indigence. Misery has to be 
unmasked and the sores that give pain exposed. They 
have to be probed and the primary causes of their 
rottenness seen, and having discovered the root of 
the social evil an effective remedy must be applied. 
If Church and State would only brush aside cramped 
bigotry and join hands for the betterment of the 
masses, then we would have the golden age of the 
world. There is to be no shrugging of shoulders at 
this social problem. It is the duty of Church and 
State to grapple with it, each in that way which comes 
within its province. Both should labor to attain the 
same end although to reach there the ways may be 
different. We are too fond of carping about words. 
If a voice is heard advocating the cause of the poor, 
someone will cry out : " Oh, he is a socialist." Well, 
if socialism means to devise a plan that will better 
our fellow men, by giving more wholesome food to 
the masses who help to produce it; if socialism 
means to put a warmer coat on the shivering poor 
who help to weave it, and give to the wearied laborer 
a more cheerful habitation to live in than the sepul- 
chral hovels in which he now lives in, then the Cath- 
olic Church is a rank socialist, and socialism as a 
scheme of brotherhood is the outcome of the life and 
teaching of Jesus Christ. 

What is property? It is wealth given to you as a 
trust. What is ability but mental riches given to you 
by God to use as a trust? What is life but existence 
lent to you by God to use for the benefit for self and 



The Rich and the Poor 



359 



brotherhood? This is the teaching of Christ and true 
socialism, and not the socialism of Karl Marx. Yet 
there are some who howl at us when we proclaim this 
doctrine and say that we are avowedly atheistic, and 
contemplating the destruction of the home, and the 
degradation of married life. It is impolitic to stand 
by with folded arms and hear said : " It is only nat- 
ural, equitable, and inevitable that there should be 
millionaires and there should be poor, and to meddle 
with this existing condition of things would be im- 
pious and inexpedient. It is the result of progress 
and civilization that machinery should replace man 
and that man should suffer in consequence. Man is 
the appanage of the machine, and as machinery be- 
comes more effective the lot of man must be more 
precarious and wretched." These are the out-pouring 
of a delirious debauch. We admit there must be 
inequality, that there must be rich and poor owing to 
the disorder caused through our fallen state, but this 
inequality in the possession of God's bounteous gifts 
does not exonerate us from the responsibility of re- 
lieving the distressed, but on the contrary obligates 
us to aid the poor from our superabundance. The 
introduction of mechanical appliances to produce the 
world's wares quicker and better is the product of 
man's inventive genius, and the benefit resulting from 
such should not be confined to the few but to the 
many. It would be monstrously unjust to maintain 
the contrary, and to refrain from vigorously denoun- 
cing such ideals is to share in the responsibility of 
such unsound doctrine. 



360 The Messiah's Message 

What is wealth ? Some defined it " As the pos- 
session of the valuable by the valiant." But it has 
been pointed out that men are not wealthier than the 
locks on their own strong boxes are. The wealth of 
a nation consists in strong men, clean men, men of a 
tender and loving spirit. These are true wealth, and 
these alone can make a nation great. The prosperity 
of a nation is founded on pure domestic life, on com- 
mercial integrity, high standard of moral worth and 
public spirit, in simple habits, uprightness, and a 
soundness and moderation of judgment which springs 
from character as well as from intellect. It is here 
where the Church of Christ comes in with its powerful 
aid to build up a nation. The gospel of Jesus Christ 
is for the building up of man, and against everything 
that hurts him. It fights against that damnable lust 
of mammon, the god of the rich glutton, and stands 
by the side of Lazarus the poor. It thunders against 
every system of money making that robs the working 
man of the just need of his toil. What wages can 
replace a wasted body, a shortened life, a gruesome 
grave? If man to-day acted up to the gospel of Jesus 
Christ there would be no crushing or grinding of the 
poor, but the very fact of there being such mills is a 
proof that the gospel of Jesus Christ is ignored and 
the gospel of mammon takes its place. Anathema 
therefore to the system which counts of the health of 
manhood, the health of nationhood, of less importance 
than dividends. You will have no dividends if you 
paralyze the brawny arm, the tough muscle, and the 
bone-like sinew of the laborer by a wage that barely 



V 



The Rich and the Poor 



361 



supports life, much less to strengthen it. Anathema 
to the system that pushes philanthropy and manhood 
into the corner, and says that civilization consists only 
in the building of bridges, piercing of mountains, 
cutting canals, building dreadnoughts, encircling con- 
tinents and spanning oceans with electrical appliances 
for the purpose of piling dollars on the altar of 
mammon. 

It is sad in the extreme and painful to the eyes of 
faith to see how many schemes are devised, what 
humiliations are suffered, what degrading acts are 
committed, what sacrifices are made, to obtain the 
patronage of the great ones of the world; while al- 
most nothing is done to earn the patronage of the 
king of heaven. 

In order, therefore, that we should guard against 
this insane hunger, this maddened thirst for worldly 
advantages and neglect those of heaven, the Son of 
God in language compassionate and tender but threat- 
ening and severe, addressed the Jewish priests, and 
through them, all of us these grave words : " Make 
unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity that 
when you shall fail, they may receive you into ever- 
lasting dwellings." Convert into capital and merit of 
heavenly riches the riches of the earth which are more 
or less the productive agencies of iniquity. Pour into 
the lap of the poor your superabundance that they 
may become your friends with God and at death in- 
troduce you into everlasting tabernacles. 

There is implanted in our nature a responsive 

chord of sympathy for the sufferings of our fellow 

24 



362 



The Messiah's Message 



creatures. Sometimes, however, we find men in 
whose souls this noble human distinction is alien, as 
we see exemplified in the Jewish priesthood. In the 
days of our Saviour the priests of the synagogue were 
as hard-hearted towards their fellow men as they were 
indulgent to themselves; their pride and avarice for- 
bade them to be merciful to the penitent and charitable 
to the poor. When therefore our Lord laid bare their 
unmerci fulness by exhorting them to exercise mercy 
toward penitent sinners by the beautiful parable of 
the prodigal son, He introduced the parable of the 
unjust steward, and by it, and for their instruction, 
He inculcated charity towards the poor. But, being 
of an avaricious mind and hearing our Lord expound- 
ing His doctrine of using the riches of the earth for 
the benefit of the poor, they derided Him. The Sav- 
iour then acting as Judge in severe and expressive 
language narrated to them the history of the rich 
glutton and Lazarus, the poor beggar, which demon- 
strates the severe condemnation reserved for the rich 
who disregard the precept of charity to the indigent; 
and that the giving of alms is not a work of super- 
erogation, but a rigorous duty, an obligation imposed 
on those who possess God's bounteous gifts to assist 
those who do not possess them. 

There was in the city of Jerusalem, said our 
Saviour, a rich man who devoted his riches to no 
other purpose but dress and feast sumptuously. At 
the gates of his palace lay a poor beggar named 
Lazarus wretchedly clad, emaciated with starvation 
and covered from head to foot with ulcerous sores. 



The Rich and the Poor 363 



Deprived of every remedy in his infirmity, of every 
solace in his suffering, of every sustenance in his 
hunger, with a weak and tremulous voice, he stood 
day after day at the door of the rich man's palace 
questing the crumbs that fell from his sumptuous 
table; and, what is almost incredible to say, even this 
small pittance that is not denied to the brute beast, 
was sought in vain by Lazarus. Around this man- 
sion, as we often see, well-groomed and well-fed 
dogs loitered, these dogs more charitable than their 
master, surrounded poor Lazarus and commenced to 
lick the sores that covered his body, compensating 
by their action the cruel abandonment of his fellow 
man. 

But do you think that God has forgotten Lazarus, 
and that He, the Creator of both the rich and the 
poor, is interested alone in providing the wealthy 
with the luxuries of life and neglects the poor and 
needy, and that they have no place in His love and 
providence? It is not so. We must not think that 
God is indifferent to the insulting triumphs of those 
whom the wheel of fortune lifts up, or to the groans 
of those whom it crushes beneath it. Lazarus and 
his fellow-creatures in distress and poverty are dear 
to God, are loved by God. It is the decree of Divine 
Providence that an obligation rests upon the rich to 
assist the poor from their superabundance. This is 
a necessary consequence from the designs of Divine 
Providence established by the Creator. God could 
have distributed His bounteous gifts so as to make 
each one independent, but then while independent of 



3^4 



The Messiah's Message 



each other there would no longer be union, no longer 
a family, no longer a society. What then has the 
Creator done? He has decreed that men should re- 
ceive His gifts through ministration, through other 
men. He laid down a relationship between the strong 
and the weak, between authority and subjection, be- 
tween obedience and command, between the necessity 
of receiving and the obligation of giving. He bound 
these opposing factors together by an indissoluble 
bond, the terms of which human forces may alter, 
but never can destroy or suspend. As men are there- 
fore born through their parents, and through the 
priesthood are sanctified, and through the sovereign 
power are governed, and through the magisterial de- 
partment are judged, and through the learned are 
instructed, thus through the rich are they succored. 
As, therefore, parents are the ministers of God's 
paternity, the priesthood .the ministers of God's grace, 
sovereignty the minister of God's authority, the 
magistracy the minister of God's justice, the learned 
the minister of God's wisdom, in like manner are the 
rich the ministers of God's providence and bounty. 
" For he is God's minister to thee, for good," says 
St. Paul (Rom. 13). That is, for the advantage 
of our fellow man. In these words consist the great 
difference between the social doctrine of paganism 
and that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According 
to the horrible doctrines of paganism, which deified 
strength to the detriment of the weak, greatness, dis- 
tinction, and superiority were looked upon as alone 
for the advantage of those who possessed them; but 



The Rich and the Poor 



365 



according to the sublime maxims of the Gospel, which 
elevate the weak, greatness, distinction, and superior- 
ity are ordained by God for the benefit of those upon 
whom they are exercised. As the parents, therefore, 
are for the good of the children, as the priesthood 
is for the good of the lay element, as sovereignty 
is for the good of the subject, as the magistracy is 
for the good of the innocent, as the learned are for 
the good of the ignorant, as the strong are for the 
good of the weak, so do the rich exist for the re- 
lief, the succor, and the good of the poor. 

Would to God that I could indelibly burn this 
teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the hearts 
of those who are in the possession of the wealth and 
the luxuries of the world, and who abuse and 
squander the bounteous gifts of God to pamper their 
lower passions; and who are likened to those para- 
sitical plants that fatten on the sap of other plants 
without bearing any fruit of themselves; who are, in 
other words, the true picture of the rich glutton of 
the gospel. The rich man should be nought other 
but the father, the guardian, the consoler of the poor, 
the visible image of the divine goodness, the minister 
of heaven's abundance to human indigence. 

I am not speaking now of wealth acquired through 
turpitude, through chicanery, through corrupt prac- 
tices, through dishonest trafficking; these cannot be 
given to the poor as charity. But I speak of wealth 
honestly acquired, wealth that injustice has not made 
odious, wealth that intrigue has not blurred with its 
filthy stainings. These riches, God has ordained, 



366 



The Messiah's Message 



should pass from the hands of the wealthy to the 
hands of the poor. 

We are living in the days of an un-Christian civili- 
zation. The rich are becoming richer and the poor 
are becoming poorer. The rich are more extrava- 
gant and live more luxuriously, and the squalor and 
misery of the poor are on a larger scale. The poor 
are growing in numbers and knitting these numbers 
into dangerous organizations. Now and then we 
hear them say strange things and ask stranger ques- 
tions about the rights of property. These sayings 
and questions are impressed on their minds by teachers 
of an active propaganda carried on against faith, 
morality, and the inequality with which the riches 
of the world are in the possession of a few. We will 
always have the rich man, and we will always have 
poor Lazarus at his gate. 

By the primary law of nature man appeared upon 
the earth as its natural inhabitant. All were con- 
stituted equal proprietors of its fruits, and equally 
authorized to partake of its plenty. But this com- 
mon possession and equal enjoyment can never sub- 
sist among men in their fallen state, and will never 
be insisted upon except by the designing invaders of 
social order, who are often heard making a charge 
against God of unfairness and injustice in the dis- 
tribution of the goods of the earth. " It is unjust 
of God/' they say, " to lavish earthly treasures upon 
a few of His creatures while the masses hunger, and 
even some are reduced to squalid poverty." Well, 
you might as well charge an organ builder with 



The Rich and the Poor 367 

ignorance of his trade because he did not observe 
the same dimensions in the arrangement of the tubes 
when constructing the organ. Some of these tubes 
are large and others small, both emit different sounds 
according to their compass, but from this irregularity 
a harmony of sweet music is obtained which could 
not occur if all the tubes were of the same size. In 
like manner God willed that some men should be in 
affluent circumstances, others in poverty, in order that 
a marvelous harmony would be the result when the 
poor serve the rich, and the rich sustain the poor, 
and thus one by patience, the other by charity con- 
jointly render glory to God. It is necessary that 
there should be a diversity of conditions, that there 
should be a regular gradation in society, that some 
should command and others obey, that some should 
experience the pangs of hunger and others enjoy the 
pomp of grandeur and opulence. Unwelcome as may 
be this inequality of conditions to the poor, it is here 
the Providence of God stands forward in their be- 
half distinct and visible with all its loving and benign 
features. It was becoming the goodness of God to 
extend His protection and support to all whom He 
called into existence. From the absolute dominion 
which He holds over all creatures He was free to 
provide for them according to His high will and 
pleasure, and His infinite wisdom has suggested a 
plan which human imbecility should not presume to 
arraign or oppose. The Lord God Omnipotent could 
by a thousand ways have provided for the distressed 
and extricated them from the rigors of chill penury, 



3 68 



The Messiah's Message 



but for reasons it is our duty to venerate, rather than 
criticize. He has been pleased to prescribe certain 
regulations in the distribution of temporal goods by 
imposing an obligation on those who possess them, 
of sharing the gifts of His bounty with those who 
possess them not. The goods of the world are not 
given to the rich exclusively for themselves, but as 
stewards of God they hold them for the purpose of 
balancing the order in society which He has made 
unequal. This is the social science of the Christian 
world, that the rich may minister to the poor the 
offices of brotherly love, and thus glorify the God of 
love and peace in a nobler way than would have been 
possible if there had been no poor and afflicted to call 
for compassion and relief. 

In all countries an aristocracy of wealth, or talent, 
or title, has existed, and the duties of those who have 
been called to fill such a position, are clear and un- 
equivocal. They are invited as stewards for the 
promotion of the spiritual and temporal happiness 
of those orders of the community to whom God has 
given less of opulence, leisure or ability. Just as we 
see in this city ladies forming themselves into com- 
mittees and lending their powerful aid to schemes of 
piety, benevolence, and public usefulness, and thus 
become not only the ornament, but the solid support 
of the state. Where, however, privileges are mis- 
applied, where wealth and power are employed not for 
the promotion of the glory of the Supreme Giver by 
those in affluence not adhering to the obligation im- 
posed on them, but wasted in frivolous and often- 



The Rich and the Poor - 369 

times irreligious pursuits, history inspired and 
uninspired alike concur to threaten a day of retribu- 
tion. 

The rich man who hordes up his wealth, is a 
parasite who feeds and pampers himself on the nu- 
triment of the poor. For the Omnipotent Distributor 
of the goods of the earth has reserved certain rights, 
and these rights, sacred and inviolable He has trans- 
ferred to the poor and needy. Those, therefore, 
who live in the comforts of life and swim in the 
luxuries of life, deceive themselves if they im- 
agine that God has so placed them, and left their 
fellow-creatures in poverty and indigence by blind ca- 
price to make one miserable and the other happy, 
God has placed in their hands a deposit which is the 
patrimony of the poor, in order that the poor can ap- 
proach the rich with humility, and the rich descend to 
the poor with charity. And while placing the poor 
in the necessity of asking, He has put on the rich the 
obligation of giving. For we are called to be the co- 
operators of God's Providence, and the imitators of 
His divine bounty, in distributing the good which 
He accumulates in the hands of some for the benefit 
of many. They, therefore, deceive themselves if they 
imagine that the poor when asking alms, claim any- 
thing but what they have a right to ; their superfluous 
goods appertain to them, they have a real and incon- 
testable right to them which nature in her laws as 
well as the evangelical has ordained. 

But the law which commands us to assist the poor 
is not alone founded upon the design of God as our 



370 



The Messiah's Message 



Creator, but also upon the law of the economy of the 
grace of God as our Redeemer. The age in which the 
rich glutton lived was not as progressive as the one we 
now live in. No one then thought of imprisoning the 
poor instead of sustaining them, in order their pres- 
ence might not offend the over-sensitive tastes of the 
rich. The philanthropy of old had not discovered 
the remedy of despoiling the poor of their liberty as 
punishment for their misery. It was not customary 
then to issue severe orders to the servants not to allow 
those seeking alms to approach the doors of the lordly 
mansions, then they were not warned off as intruders ; 
it is not necessary for me to remind you that to-day 
these are the orders given and carried out with rigor 
and severity. In fact the philanthropists of old were 
in complete ignorance of the means adopted by the 
rich to-day to guard against ever hearing the sighs 
and sobs of the afflicted, or seeing the tears of the dis- 
tressed, in order that their rebuking conscience might 
not remind them of their duty, or human sympathy 
might urge them to part with some of their wealth to 
alleviate the hunger or pain of those in need. No, 
such was not the state of affairs then, for we see 
Lazarus was permitted to approach the door of the 
rich glutton, and no one sought to deprive him of 
that sad privilege by turning him away as he stood 
craving for a few crumbs. But, on the contrary, it 
appears that the wisdom of God so arranged that 
both should meet and see each other, and as Lazarus 
was poor and infirm in body had need of assistance 
from the rich man, much more was the rich man poor 



The Rich and the Poor 371 

and infirm in soul and had need of spiritual assistance 
from Lazarus. In the designs, therefore, of God, the 
emaciated and ulcerous body of Lazarus is ever be- 
fore the eyes of the rich in order that he may receive 
assistance and live; and the rich are ever before the 
eyes of the poor, who in return of the aid received, 
by the charity received, assist the rich towards salva- 
tion. Behold, then, how the economy of the grace of 
God the Redeemer, places the poor represented by Laz- 
arus under the eyes of the voluptuous rich, repre- 
sented by the rich glutton of the Gospel, and see how 
God wished to show how the poor may find an asylum, 
a refuge, in the abundance and liberality of the rich, 
and the rich may find a means of sanctification and 
of salvation in their compassion and charity to the 
poor. 

Unhappily corporally is the lot of the poor in their 
squalid misery, but more unhappily spiritually are the 
rich by reason of the corrosive fire of those passions 
inherent to their condition of life. These passions 
cannot be triumphed over without grace from God, 
but the voluptuary cannot receive this grace unless 
it enters by the door of charity. And I say with em- 
phasis, in vain has the blood of the Redeemer been 
shed on Calvary for them, if the tears of the poor have 
been shed in vain in their presence. 

What the rich are, therefore, in the order of na- 
ture, the poor are in the order of grace. The rich 
are for the poor the ministers of God the Provider, 
and the poor are for the rich the ministers of God 
the Sanctifier. As the rich hold in their hands the 



37 2 The Messiah's Message 

food required by the poor for the nourishment of their 
bodies, in like manner do the poor hold in their hands 
the spiritual required by the rich for the nourishment 
of their souls. If the poor have need of the rich for 
their subsistence, much more are the rich in need of 
the poor for their eternal life. 

The opulent, the wealthy, the voluptuary can never 
enter the gates of the kingdom of heaven unless they 
be introduced, be presented by the poor, who are 
the courtiers, the janitors, of the heavenly palace, the 
friends of the King. And as Jesus Christ said, 
" Make unto you friends of the Mammon of iniquity, 
that when you shall fail, they may receive you into 
everlasting dwellings." Noble friends of God are the 
poor, and if the rich have the great privilege of mak- 
ing them happy on earth by the virtue of their charity, 
they, the poor, will have a greater privilege in making 
the rich happy for all eternity. 

Riches foment pride, sustain luxury, inspire a 
license to sin by fanning the human passions. These 
are the ordinary disorders of riches, and which ex- 
clude the rich from the kingdom of heaven, and plunge 
the rich glutton into hell; but if the rich be charitable, 
these disorders would not exist, grace would be vic- 
torious and would defend the rich from them, and 
arrest their rush to perdition, and direct them on the 
way to salvation. That which, therefore, allows the 
rich to live and die in their sins is their insensibility, 
their hardness of heart towards the poor; and this is 
the sin common to the rich and the principle of their 
eternal reprobation. From this you can gee why the 



The Rich and the Poor 373 

Eternal Judge on the day of the general judgment, 
on the day of bitterness, the day of His wrath and 
vengeance, does not reproach the rich with any other 
crime but that of their omission to assist the poor, 
" I was hungry and you did not give me to eat." 

The obligation on the part of the rich to assist the 
poor has a solemn sanction from the threats of our 
Eternal Judge, and fulfilled in the condemnation of 
the rich glutton, who when feasting on the luxuries of 
life refused a crumb that fell from his table to poor 
Lazarus shivering and starving at the gates of his 
palace. This rich glutton of the gospel was no infidel 
or idolater; he was not one of these great ones of the 
world who entertained and gave great banquets to glut 
sensual appetite and make them the occasion of obscene 
discourse and wanton dances, but a true adorer of God, 
a follower of the true religion, a son of Abraham, 
not alone by blood and race, but professed the same 
faith. He was not one of those whose accumulated 
wealth could be ascribed to the dishonest trafficking of 
the public funds, or the result of fraud or monopoly 
in commerce, or usury and extortion. He was not 
one of those whose accumulated wealth is very often 
amassed to the detriment of others by usurping their 
property. He was not one of those worldlings who 
utilize the affluent positions he is in to tyrannize over 
his inferiors and hold them in bondage and slavery 
by concocting intrigues and corrupting honesty. No! 
the gospel only charges him with dressing in purple 
and fine linen, and feasting sumptuously every day 
while poor Lazarus lay at his gates full of sores, crav- 



374 



The Messiah's Message 



ing for the crumbs that fell from his table; but none 
did he give him, and the dogs came and licked his 
sores; and it came to pass that the beggar died and 
was carried by the angels to heaven, to Abraham's 
bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried in 
hell. 

This rich man of the gospel was one whom we in 
our days would characterize as a man of hospitable 
tendencies who lived sumptuously, who minds his own 
affairs and injures none. His faults were the faults 
of omission, he was blind to the responsibilities 
placed on him by God. Yet this man whom the world 
would lift up to heaven God hurls to hell. And why? 
Are riches a crime deserving such rigorous punish- 
ment? No, they are gifts of God, and in their use 
are not a crime but a blessing when used as decreed 
according to the law of the gospel of Jesus Christ; 
but the gospel says that the rich glutton had seen 
poor Lazarus many times at his gates, and he scowled 
at him, and turned away his face that he might not 
see poverty and hunger ; he looked upon him as some- 
thing unclean and not worthy of even a glance, much 
less a crumb. Behold, where the crime lies, and the 
true motive of his condemnation. He was damned 
not because he was rich, but because he was uncharita- 
ble ; because he was not merciful. He was condemned 
not because he appropriated the properties of others 
by theft, but because he was not the just distributor 
of God's gifts. He was not condemned because he 
wounded poor Lazarus, but because he murdered him, 
by permitting him to die of hunger. If God has 



The Rich and the To or 



375 



blessed you with the plenty of this earth's treasures, 
it is that you may be the dispensers of His blessings ; 
and the bestowing of alms becomes a duty strictly 
incumbent on you, and God requires at your hands a 
tribute according to the full extent of your ability. 

We are living in days of little faith, small reason, 
and great sensuality. The rich ones of the world, 
eagerly engaged either in the hurry of business, or 
dancing in the whirl of pleasure, shrink from visit- 
ing those scenes where they could see neglected 
poverty undergoing the combined assault of hunger 
and disease; they have no time to attend to the whis- 
pered solicitation of half-concealed distress, which 
often feels a severe pang from the acceptance of an 
alms than from the distress itself. Little do the proud 
and haughty, the votaries of pleasure, and the slaves 
of ambition think of the complicated afflictions that 
weigh down the greatest portion of their fellow-crea- 
tures. Could they when seated at the festive board, 
in the hour of convivial enjoyment, could they see 
the sorrows of the miserable hovel, or of the dark 
cellar, seemingly destined for the villain and murderer 
rather than for the abode of innocence, they would 
receive a shock that must force them to dash the cup 
of pleasure from their lips, and aid in alleviating the 
sufferings of their fellow men. Could we transport 
them from their magnificent mansions, where luxury is 
pampered and pride swollen, to those baneful haunts 
of wretchedness and woe, to the damp corner where the 
forlorn sufferer lies overcome with sickness, destitute 
of all nourishment, or with such only as prolongs his 



376 



The Messiah's Message 



sufferings and his life. Could they see on the scattered 
straw a brood of helpless children perishing alike with 
cold and hunger; could they behold the speechless 
woe of the hapless mother, feeling at once the sorrows 
of a parent and a wife; could they see her matted 
hair, her disordered eye; could they contemplate the 
accumulated miseries of this mournful group and not 
dissolve into all the tenderness of commiseration. If 
they can see this and not melt, I say, that habitual dis- 
sipation must have steeled their souls to more than 
savage sensibility, and they are deprived of one of 
the noblest distinctions of human nature. 

Away in the slums of a large overgrown city on 
a cold winter's night a woman was seen to issue from 
a dingy hovel, a woman who had seen better days but 
now was dashed against the rocks of this cold shelter- 
less world. Three little children accompanied her; 
their little limbs that should be as fresh as the green 
leaves of life, were shriveled and crisped with pov- 
erty. " The air was biting shrewdly," as she jour- 
neyed along from street to street. An unwonted 
stillness reigned, the chattering teeth of her little ones 
broke that stillness; sobs now and then chopped the 
muttering words, " I am cold and hungry, Mother." 
She knocked at a door and asked for something to 
eat, but the door was slammed in her face, not even 
a reply was condescended. The little children wept 
bitterly and a silent tear stole down the furrowed 
cheeks of the starving mother. She passed along to 
another street and knocked again at another door. A 
servant came and hearing the suppliant and gentle voice 



The Rich and the Poor 377 

of the poor mother asking something for her hungry 
children to eat, went forth to acquaint her mistress that 
a poor woman very destitute looking was at the door 
seeking something to eat; after a little time she re- 
turned, but not with an alms in her hands, but on 
her lips cruel words, " The mistress says this is no 
hour of the night to be out." The door was closed 
and the mother and children directed their steps to- 
wards a lordly mansion where brilliant lights lit up 
its splendor. She knocked and after some delay the 
door was opened by the host himself bloated from a 
sumptuous banquet and besotted with the fumes of 
wine. " Well, what is the matter ? " " Something, 
Sir, for my little children to eat ; even the crumbs that 
fell from your table," sobbed the distressed mother. 
He pulled from his pocket a number of coins and see- 
ing they were all gold, he said, while closing the door, 
" Come to-morrow." What tongue shall dare to tell 
us of the agony keen and deep that cut into the core 
as that mother looked down upon her darlings starv- 
ing at her side and saw them reel and totter to the 
earth, and when lifted to her heart felt their little 
icy hands thrust into her bosom, cold as well. She 
clung with martyr's firmness to those where nature 
held a mother's heart ; she gazed upon their death-like 
faces, their shrunken cheeks all pale and wan; she 
kissed them with her cold and famished lips, moaned 
into the frozen sky, and died. 

"The cold winds swept the mountain's height, 
And pathless was the dreary wild, 
And mid the cheerless hours of night, 
A mother wandered with her child; 

25 



37$ The Messiah's Message 



As through the drifting snow she pressed, 
The babe was sleeping on her breast. 

And colder still the winds did blow, 

And darker hours of night came on, 
And deeper grew the drifting snow, 

Her limbs were chilled, her strength was gone. 
' Oh, God ! ' she cried in accents wild, 

'If I must perish, save my child.' 

She stripped her mantle from her breast, 

And bared her bosom to the storm, 
And round the child she wrapped the vest, 

And smiled to think her babe was warm; 
With one cold kiss, one tear she shed, 

And sank upon her snowy bed. 

At dawn a traveler passed by, 

And saw her 'neath a snowy veil; 
The frost of death was in her eye, 

Her cheek was cold, and hard, and pale. 
He moved the robe from off the child, 

The babe looked up and sweetly smiled." 

In the Acts of the Apostles we read that there lived 
in Joppe a certain woman named Tabitha, who was 
remarkable for good works and alms deeds. She 
died, and the disciples learning that St. Peter was in 
the neighboring town, called Lydda, sent two men 
to request him to hurry hither. St. Peter complied 
with the request, and having arrived went into the 
room where the remains lay. There lay Tabitha in 
the very sanctuary of death; a stole of flowers fell 
from her shoulders over her white garments; lilies 
were twined with the clustering ringlets of her hair, 
but their bloom only served to deepen the shadows 



The Rich and the Poor 379 



that overcast her countenance, so lately beaming with 
joy. Every lineament was now steeped in the noi- 
some mildew of the grave. That fair form that 
moved silently among the poor was now as motionless 
as a Parian statue. Her eyes sunk in eternal night. 
Her lips were livid and conglutinated with the slime 
of dissolution. Around that couch absorbed in grief 
were many weeping widows and orphans, gazing on 
the figure of their great benefactrix, now lapsing with 
rapidity to decay; they wrung their hands and shook 
their heads in despair as they turned their streaming 
eyes towards St. Peter, as he entered. They showed 
him the garments which she made for them ; they sung 
her good deeds of charity. The Apostle was moved, 
and elevating his eyes and hands towards heaven he 
knelt down and prayed. All was still and silent, not 
a move but the panting of hearts; he spoke to the 
body : " Tabitha, arise." And giving her his hand 
she rose from her couch, like an angel from her rest, 
and her voice broke out in fragrant and musical 
thanksgiving when she found herself restored to labor 
again among the poor. 

Let us imagine a good Christian soul here who 
helps the poor, who gives the cup of cold water in the 
name of God, who clothes the famishing, who feeds 
the hungry, who visits the sick; imagine that soul after 
winging its way to the throne of the Eternal Judge, 
and there, dizzy with the beauty and brightness of 
heaven, it hears the voices of many of the poor and 
widowed who were the participators of its loving 
works of charity, like those around the bier of Ta- 



3 8o 



The Messiah's Message 



bitha, plead before the throne of God: "Have 
mercy, O Lord, on this soul who acted in your name 
towards us on earth ; we were hungry and he gave us 
to eat; we were thirsty and she gave us to drink; we 
were naked and they gave us garments to clothe us; 
we were sick and distressed and they visited us." 
Such unctuous prayers, such sweet accents must touch 
a responsive chord in the Sacred Heart of a just and 
merciful God. 



THE END 



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